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Fine Art for type artists
Posted by dan in
8 Feb 2005 — 1:12pm
8 Feb 2005 — 1:12pm
Christo's The Gates is being installed in Central Park in Manhattan. If you can go to see it, its a must see. 23 miles of walking paths covered by the 7500 orange gates. They are about 15 feet tall and 7 1/2 feet wide and on Feb 12th they unleash the mesh tops. That will take over 2 hours. I rode my bike today and saw about 1000 of the gates errected and its magnificent. It will be up for 16 days and there is a trolley to get around the park and see the whole installation. Of course the best way is by bike and with a camera. If you visit Central Park Concervancy you will find links to The Gates
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8 Feb 2005 — 1:50pm
That's Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
9 Feb 2005 — 5:14am
http://www.the-gates-at-central-park.com/
More information from the Conservancy
9 Feb 2005 — 11:20am
I'll be in NYC with my wife Fri-Sun, and we're definitely going to check that out. Thanks for the link, Dan.
9 Feb 2005 — 11:30am
Certainly. I haven't mastered our digital camera yet, but I'll do my best.
9 Feb 2005 — 11:33am
And remember to renew your life insurance policy before approaching any Christo piece. Art Kills!
9 Feb 2005 — 1:54pm
9 Feb 2005 — 2:13pm
Hey, if you push one over you could start a domino effect.
9 Feb 2005 — 2:50pm
John, it took a fork lift just to move one of those bases. We had a 6" snow storm when they were putting down the bases and it gave the fork lifts a hard time. Those gates are going nowhere. They were so well designed, they took in account snow and wind too! As for vandalism they are being better protected by the police than the president.
9 Feb 2005 — 3:33pm
Pity. I guess the material for wrapping the Reichstag was probable fire-retardant too.
9 Feb 2005 — 8:05pm
Ha Ha, John! I was thinking the same thing about dominoes when I looked at the photo. I bet riding a bike through the gates would be a pretty cool experience.
Mike
10 Feb 2005 — 4:26am
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/10/arts/design/10gate.html?pagewanted=1
The New York Times take on the gates
10 Feb 2005 — 4:57am
16 days.
And then what?
No doubt they get recycled.
But that's a waste.
Less waste is to reuse them.
Can I get one for my back garden?
10 Feb 2005 — 3:57pm
The rumor about the gates is two fold. One is Mayor Bloomberg actually paid for the installation and the second is each gate will be sold. All 7500 of them. I will guess these artistic New Yorkers living in SoHo will have plenty of funds for their next art project. But you have to see it live if you can. Its now 90% up and it is amazing. Come, enjoy and be inspired!
14 Feb 2005 — 6:59pm
I saw an interview with the artists where they said that they'd never be owned by anyone. (the art, not the artists)
14 Feb 2005 — 7:33pm
Here are my Gates photos (as promised). There are 10 of them, so if the Typophile Mods decide that's too many, it's cool. I haven't gotten them organized to put on my own server yet.
We got out to the park later in the day, and missed the sunshine in the morning. The grey skies did help the orange, though.
15 Feb 2005 — 6:03am
Nice pix Chris... I kind of want to see the gates up during the fall when it was meant to be diplayed, but it's an interesting site to see these bright swatches during drab February.
The length of the cloth bothers me. They are like knee length skirts or pants that are just a little too short.
15 Feb 2005 — 7:01am
More images of The Gates project can be found on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/gatesproject/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/gates/
15 Feb 2005 — 12:15pm
The Gates are at there best when the winds pick up and they flow in breeze. In the bright sun they change color depending on the angle you look at them. There is also an interesting employment situation. There are paid employees who have poles with a tennis ball at the end of them to untangle a gate if the wind blows it over the bar. Plus these employees give tips and directions to the visitors.
16 Feb 2005 — 12:34pm
They also hand out swatches of the fabric.
16 Feb 2005 — 1:39pm
Benjamin, by Monday someone had posted those free swatches of fabric on Ebay.
The mayor estimates The Gates will bring in about 80 million dollars in revenue to the city. Hotels are up about 30% compacity to 78%.
16 Feb 2005 — 1:50pm
I wouldn't be surprised if someone tries to auction off the gates themselves.
I've got a bridge I'd like to post on ebay myself...
16 Feb 2005 — 2:20pm
As Chris noted every piece of The Gates is slated to be recycled. They have a plan for the fabric and the steel and whatever that (one ton per base) base material is. The recycling isn't generic it has specific purposes. I guess when you have 26 years you've put into a project you sweat out every detail. The future videos and books will be very interesting.
9 Feb 2005 — 11:26am
Chris, if you can, please take some pictures. It is always interesting to see photos of installments such as these from the viewers POV.
15 Feb 2005 — 8:24am
"drab February" ... exactly. What a gorgeous way to manifest the energy of the city during the most gray time of year.