As of a few days ago there was not much to see; just thousands of metal blocks marked with temporary plastic gizmos to assist the workers. Since then they have been installing the frames to hold the fabric. To the best of my knowledge they have not yet started adding the fabric. I'll know more tomorrow when I walk across the park to see a film on the westside.
Thanks flyboy. Keep us posted.
Oh, but wait, JL, that IS my take on many many efforts at art-in-the-landscape. I am torn re Christo, I do like some of it, the beauty got to me... (Inconsistency, the hallmark of a confused woman..)
I was going to start a topic on the Michael Heizer article, quite a long one, in the NY Times magazine section this week. I decided not to because one can't follow a link there without paying a fee, after a week, and registering in any case, which many people don't want to do.
However, I found it very interesting -
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/magazine/06HEIZER.html?
Shades of the Old Abuzz--the hamsters ate my post and I'll have to try to reproduce my first fine rapture.
I'll be in NYC for the week of President's Day and plan to see the Christo project.
Most landscape art arouses my scorn. In a city I'll accept the invasion of the "natural" skyline, but in the country the "art" is dwarfed by natural splendor. Gilding the lily here reminds me of littering and of the sort of jackassy ambition that leads the great unwashed to decorate natural or manmade glory with personal initials or other graffiti.
I have a fondness for Lawn Art, which ties urban, suburban or rural tamed space to the human calendar. I love to see Santa landing on the Manger Roof with while Wise Men's camels are held by the Grinch and anonymous snowmen. Materialistic jubilation challenges the long, dark nights of the year and the spirit.
If the bare branch season inspires a homeowner to decorate an ornamental tree with plastic easter eggs or fake-lace-and-plush hearts or ersatz pumpkins, I'll admire. They are integrating their homes with the wider world.
I'll even go along with the mass-produced flags that announce a homeowner's proud individuality.
Impromptu roadside shrines festooned with faded plastic flowers and soggy teddy bears are eloquent demonstrations of the immense reality of change and death.
Central Park is no longer a "natural" landscape. I'll be interested to see how I feel about the gates--great physical and symbolic transitions, gates--being adorned with acres of dayglo orange.
My biggest question is, how will they protect the installation and keep defacers at bay? That day-glo orange fabric would make an incredibly tempting background for graffiti artists looking to immortalize themselves.
I just returned from a walk across the park and was very impressed. First let me say I was originally opposed to the project, and on general principles still do not support it. The lower third of the park (and for all I know all of it) has all of the gates installed. I did not realize that the fabric is installed as part of the horizontal bar. It is furled below the bar and held in place by a plasticized paper sleeve which is closed with velcro. There is a loop at the end of the velcro and at the right time a hook at the end of a pole can zip open the velcro and allow the fabric to fall. Since at this time of year the trees are leafless the bright orange gates make for me a pretty sight. The effectiveness of the sight is enhanced by the undulating terrain which leads to a not too mechanical look. My hat is off to the individuals who managed the mostly volunteer workers who did the physical work in raising the gates. I'm not sure that I will be more impressed once the fabric is flying.
Hey flyboy, can you take pictures to share with us?
Sorry, semi-luddite that I am I don't have a digital camera, and if I were to borrow one, I wouldn't know how to get the picture into and out of my computer. I'm sure the newspapers will be full of pictures on Sunday.
I know. But it would have been very cool to get a personal feel of it from a fellow a2ker.
I know. But it would have been very cool to get a personal feel of it from a fellow a2ker.
Don't know how effective it'll be, but this should minimize grafitti woes.
http://www.wnbc.com/news/4184536/detail.html
Hey, a2k art fiends. I have to say I'm somewhat of an indirect Christo fan, in some cases I think the photogaphs of the pieces are truly stunning.
Early on someone mentioned the scary damaging or dangerous one: I think that was the umbrellas here in California. They looked really cool, but the wind was such that they launched a few of them and they were enormous.
I'm quite fond of art that provokes reactions like I've been reading. I think I'm closest to Lightwizard in that I like art that re-activates your impression of a place. I was just in NYC in November and hadn't been there in a long while. We were lucky enough to still catch dramatic fall color and it changed the whole park for me. It would have been wonderful to have something like the gates happen in winter--putting things in a totally different perspective and with the total lack of foliage--awesome.
Sort of at the other end of the Christo spectrum, or maybe 90degrees is Andy Goldsworthy, who makes art out of nature. Within a natural landscape he creates art out of what is there by rearranging things in "natural" human patterns: creating an archway out of flat stones, or ice or rocks. It's fun. It redefines your/human's place within its surroundings.
http://www.sculpture.org.uk/image/504816331403
Opening day is Saturday. I'm going to walk the park on Sunday (it's supposed to be nice) Supposedly best views are from the Castle or the roof of the Metropolitan.
Charging up the batteries in the digital cam.
Joe (the fabric of our lives) Nation
I just listened to story about this on NPR - I wanted to check in with you NYC a2kers to see what you thought. It makes me want to split town for NYC for the weekend.
DO NOT FORGET THE DIGITAL CAMERA JOE!
I'm the notsofamous antiGoldworthy person, he annoys the hell out of me. I got in trouble with a dear pal/mentor once when I riffed on my displeasure and my friend showed me some more of his own work, gulp, somewhat but not entirely similarly based, very much zeroing in on a moment in time.
Vivien shared many Goldworthy photos and I have toned down to, erm, maybe, on some. But I can tell that right now I am still hostile. It might be the first thing I saw of his was arranging leaves in some sequence and photoing it and then getting famous - like, give me a break and let the leaves alone. I saw that as all about the artist and not the nature of leaves.
Christo and cohorts have gained my respect over time in multilple incremental ways that sort of shut down my natural antipathy for attention getters wrapping stuff. Though my favorite was Running Fence, and I still have underlying views on - don't wrap it, just conceptualize doing that and let it go.
Not much of a way to make a living just conceptualizing though, and not nearly as viscerally exciting.
Which comes to a crux in Central Park, a placed designed by Olmsted and Vaux, quite well, many years ago, a work of art to some extent in itself. I have some but not much personal knowledge of the park, but feel rather possessive.
So, I don't know what I think and I too look forward to pictures.
Flyboy, if you have pictures, some of us will walk you through how to post.
Edit to say I am sort of excited about this, and it is ephermal, I may even get it as beautiful, and to those who haven't listened to me palaver, my idea of beauty is some sort of "fit".
He damn well better...
(smiling)
(I retain the choice of hating it...)
looking forward to these pictures and trying to keep an open mind
- as the opposite of Osso in this case, I really like Andy Goldsworthy and think his stuff is beautiful, does no harm to the landscape and does not impose - I don't like Christo and would apply the self seeking self publicising to him! (in spades!) watching and waiting .....
