The Gates

http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/tg.shtml

Christo and Jeanne-Claude

The Gates, Central Park, New York City

The process of the design, proposal and installation of The Gates spanned from 1979-2005.

The original designs for Central Park included gates that would close the park off to the public at night. When the actual gates were designed though, they were deemed too intricate for the park and the designers threw the idea of gates away. The concept stuck, however, and although no gates were actually present, the various entries to the park are referred to as gates. This is what originally inspired Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s idea for The Gates. On January 22, 2003, Mayor Bloomberg approved their proposal for a temporary installation of 7,503 of Christo’s gates in Central Park, which was completed on February 12, 2005. The installation was short; only 16 days, but the impact it had on visitors to the park during that time was phenomenal.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude have designed and installed a number of exhibitions in their years working together, including The Umbrellas in Japan and the USA, The Wrapped Reichstag in Berlin, and Wrapped Trees in Fondation Beyeler and Berower Park in Riehen, Switzerland.

Church, Jok. ""Christo and Jeanne-Claude"" Web. 18 Sept. 2009. <http://http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/tg.shtml>.

I was drawn to this installation for a number of reasons. Firstly, my uncle was one of the volunteers that worked for two weeks install the gates, and on the opening day, my family and I went with him to view the final product. Also, to many, The Gates were not considered art. Many thought that the entire process was wasteful, and didn’t fully appreciate the impact that Christo and Jeanne-Claude envisioned. I was included in this group of people until I further studied them in one of my high school art classes. It was then that I discovered the beauty of the contrast between the grays and browns of the park in winter and the bright saffron gates that moved through Central Park like a fiery river.

Even if a viewer does not consider the actual installation of The Gates to be art, they must consider the photo-like drawings that Christo and Jeanne-Claude rendered as part of their proposal for the installation. The careful planning and intricate care that they took in making this installation happen is truly amazing.

I would consider this piece of the formalist or emotionalist aesthetic view of art. The piece has no purpose other than to raise a reaction from the viewers. Also, the process in which I was put together involved 600 volunteers assembling the gates for a two week period, which provided them to be involved in creating one of the most well known pieces of contemporary public art.

Although many artists gain inspiration from another piece of art or item in their everyday life, I think that Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s installations are truly innovative and original. It is hard to connect a temporary installation such as The Gates to a masterpiece that has been displayed in museums and bartered for at auctions, however, like every artist, this pair was using their skills as designers and artists to convey their vision to their audience.