As Far As I Can Tell

Weekend of Love / The Gates

This weekend Meredith and I went to NYC to celebrate Valentines Day and our 4th anniversary. One of the key reasons I chose New York for our trip was to coincide with the opening day of The Gates, a giant public artwork in Central Park by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Twenty-six years in the making, the installation was awe inspiring and draped the park in a calm, magical feeling.

After walking around for nearly four hours it felt strange to leave the park. As exciting as the visual overload of Manhattan is everything was dulled in contrast to The Gates. This artwork isn’t about pure aesthetics, but that direct and fleeting experience. Augmenting that is it’s temporality since it’s only up for 13 more days.

Besides walking in the park we at delicious food, did some shopping, visited friends in Brooklyn and soaked up the city. I ♥ NY.

More info:
New York Times coverage
New York Magazine, The Passion of the Christos
The Gates in QuickTime VR

Flickr Tags: christo, thegates, gates, centralpark
del.icio.us: thegates, christo

View Comments (5)

# February 14, 2005 09:02 PM


 

Comments

I have been waiting for this post. Your photos are way better than any I have seen, especially the closeup of the fabric I had been wondering what they were made of. Just simple Nylon?

Posted by: ovidovi on February 16, 2005 2:25 PM

our lives are so parallel. i am going out there to see this for the final weekend, and part of that involves visiting rosemary, in brooklyn. i was *this close* tyo going out there for the opening. it would have been just like us to randomly meet at this amazing art happening. (love the nighttime shots; check ro’s page for her shots: glimmergirl.diaryx.com)

Posted by: jim on February 16, 2005 3:24 PM

Thanks Ivo. The fabric is just nylon, double ply and pleated. I got one of the 1 million fabric samples they were handing out in the park and Meredith bought a handbag made out of it, so I’m sure you’ll see it for real sometime. I hope you’re feeling better, I heard you were sick. Jim: When you’re there I suggest checking out the south side of the park first as it has the best layouts. It gets more sparse by the sides of the lake.

Posted by: Simon on February 16, 2005 3:47 PM

we plan on climbing the met, i know that much. also, i’m sad that i won’t get a free scrap. :-)

Posted by: jim on February 17, 2005 12:01 PM

actually i liked the north side so so much better. the reflections on the harlem meer were outstanding. the whole thing was amazing—it’s on my journal, too. i’ll be posting better pictures tonight or whenever i have time to do a proper entry about my trip. sadly, they were out of the bags made from the material. i guess that means meredith’s is a collectible.

Posted by: jim on March 1, 2005 1:59 PM

As far as who can tell?


Chicago, IL

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