tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10246709.post110852145648789974..comments2023-12-22T19:52:13.198-05:00Comments on Fernham: The GatesAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03281027116636227323noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10246709.post-1108706682299790822005-02-18T01:04:00.000-05:002005-02-18T01:04:00.000-05:00Sorry though - I didn't mean people were vandalizi...Sorry though - I didn't mean people were vandalizing; the Gates workers were giving out the swatches. Still, I think the same effect.<br /><br />And I agree with you about the nature of it being a "happening" - but I, like I suppose anyone who lives where tourists traffic, would find it more unpretentious if it were something more subtle, something for the people that make there lives there. Who knows? <br /><br />But, alas, as we are moving to Brooklyn next week, I see it as Christo's farewell to my wife and I who have enjoyed being close to the park for the last decade. We got engaged in the literary walk (not to go all personal on ya) and have invested hours in line at Delacorte theater and lounged with our newborn son on the green fields. So you see, we feel it is ours in a way, so Christo's art might as well be in our own home.Bud Parrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06822665831678026794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10246709.post-1108660555709532322005-02-17T12:15:00.000-05:002005-02-17T12:15:00.000-05:00I am horrified to think of the vandals.
What I l...I am horrified to think of the vandals. <br /><br />What I like about the Gates <I>is</I> the unnaturalness of the orange: my aesthetic is perhaps less refined than yours. I get tired of all that austere winter beauty. (The clerk in the Columbus Circle P.O. told me he wished that there were MORE colors--which to me, clearly would have been a terrible choice, but funny to contemplate.)<br /><br />The Otterness sculptures are great. I like the Boteros in the TimeWarner building, too. And those cheesy apples, for that matter.<br /><br />What makes the Gates different and special to me is that the brevity of their appearance turns them into a kind of unpretentious "happening."<br /><br />I don't think you're revealing an ignorance at all--I can see your point of view. <br /><br />(And I think it's impossible to write a comment w/o a typo!)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03281027116636227323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10246709.post-1108609094170084722005-02-16T21:58:00.000-05:002005-02-16T21:58:00.000-05:00I just read my comments and it looks like I've als...I just read my comments and it looks like I've also revealed my current level of exhaustion by leaving out entire words! Sorry for that.Bud Parrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06822665831678026794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10246709.post-1108608972707427522005-02-16T21:56:00.000-05:002005-02-16T21:56:00.000-05:00I am a fan of public art - the current exposition ...I am a fan of public art - the current exposition of Otterness sculptures along Broadway are brilliant and Quirky - Cow Parade, loved it! And ephemeral art (Goldsworthy), but Christo's Gates, I'm sorry to say was underwhelming for me when it came down to it. (I was there on Sunday too). Somehow, taken close up, it had little grandeur and didn't evoke anything natural (I always imagined something autumnal). The bare, sinewy trees this time of year are are in and of themselves and I didn't feel as this art celebrated them at all, but obscured the natural beauty of the park. Perhaps I've revealed an ignorance here, I don't know.<br /><br /><br />And as opposed to seeing Christo being celebrated, I saw huge crowds getting swatches to take home for their scrapbooks, thus destroying, in my eyes, the very ephemerality that gives these things their claim to being called art.<br /><br />Sorry to be a naysayer, but I wouldn't have bothered to comment had you not written a thoughtful post on it.Bud Parrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06822665831678026794noreply@blogger.com