Gates-Highly Recommend!

Went yesterday to the Gates exhibit in Central Park. If you are visiting NYC during its short duration, I highly recommend it.

My first impression was that the red carpet (or in this case saffron/orange carpet) was being rolled out for me, welcoming and inviting me into the throes of Central Park.

As I went from gate to gate, I felt like I was walking down the yellow brick road in the Wizard of Oz--a stranger in a lovely but magical land.

I went to parts of Central Park I had never seen before. Oh look there%26#39;s Belvedere Castle...wow! And kids are swarming over a whimsical sculpture of Alice %26amp; Wonderland.... and more are flocking on a statue of Hans Christian Anderson... Hey you can even read the first page of The Ugly Duckling. And here are the birds lovers looking for Pale Male with their telescopes... Just beautiful and a lot of fun.

The Gates is an interactive art exhibit, with part of the magic the park, and part the vitality and energy of the people visiting it. It%26#39;s free for all to enjoy, rich and poor, young, old, singles, familes, friends, visitors, and native New Yorkers, all gathered for a leisurely stroll through Central Park.

This is not a treasured master on the umpteenth floor in the such and such gallery, protected by guards and alarms. It%26#39;s open and accessible to everyone, and it%26#39;s duration is limited.

I can%26#39;t pretend to know what Christo was thinking and what his exact vision was. But it doesn%26#39;t matter. What does matter is the result of his efforts.

And in this case, the total results are equal to more than the sum of the parts.

Seven thousand five hundred gates equals whimsy, fun, camaraderie, and the joyous celebration of Central Park, New York.

Enjoy it while it%26#39;s here.

Gates-Highly Recommend!

I highly recommend downloading the map of the Gates exhibit which was suggested to me, at www.wirednewyork.com. You%26#39;ll get a map and descriptions of some of the cool places to visit in the park.

We started just above the MET (86th Street), at the southern portion of the reservoir, walked past the Great Lawn (summer concert spot) and the MET, to Belvedere Castle (which according to wirednewyork was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux originally as an architectural folly-- spot of playfulness). Gorgeous views here!

Strolled down to Bethesda Fountain, passed The Boathouse restaurant, then passed Tavern on the Green and Sheep Meadow. We exited at Columbus Circle (Central Park South) and went to the Time Warner Building. Took escalators to the 4th floor and realized, for the first time, that I was freezing. Hadn%26#39;t really noticed it in the midst of the people. Warmed up a bit there.

Spent a little more than two hours in the park.

Gates-Highly Recommend!

Hey, I was there yesterday too! Wish I had known, I couldn%26#39;t found another NY treasure.... VR!

Hopefully you%26#39;ll find a nice spring weekend to come back and I%26#39;ll show you the real Central Park. I can%26#39;t believe you%26#39;ve never seen Alice, and Hans, etc.

Hopefully Ruffian%26#39;s reading this and grimacing!

I was never really a fan of Central Park until yesterday. Before then it was just a spot to sit and have a picnic lunch while visiting a museum, or a necessary cut through to go from east to west. (And to be honest I was always a bit afraid of it.)

So the Gates opened a whole new world for me.

Drat, sorry we missed you Bettina!

As for Ruff, I feel sorry for him, Carp and others who can%26#39;t enjoy a treasure in their midst... but then again there were those New Yorkers who didn%26#39;t want the Statue of Liberty anywhere near their beautiful city. A chacun son gout.

(And no, Ruff I am not accusing you of having gout.)

Having lived at 97th and Columbus, and spending nearly every weekend in The Park (for years), I am so glad that ';The Gates'; are calling attention to how great it is. I%26#39;ve wandered every inch of that park, and love it all... I hope to be able to get into the city before they%26#39;re gone. By the way, does anyone know when they%26#39;re being taken down? I know they%26#39;re up for 16 days, but when was the first day?

They are scheduled to be taken down starting Feb. 28, but there is an unsubstantiated rumor they may extend for another week. I don%26#39;t know. Stay tuned to wirednewyork.com for updates.

Thanks VG for the info, and for your very flavorful account of your day in the park. If it doesn%26#39;t snow too much, we%26#39;re going to take the train into the city tomorrow to see them.

They will be up through 2/27/05

No one need feel sorry for me because I just don%26#39;t get--and couldn%26#39;t get--Cristo%26#39;s ';Gates';.

As it turns out, I feel somewhat sad for those who forfeited the opportunity to experience ';Leonardo, Master Draftsman';at the Met a few years ago.

I enjoy fun but give me an epiphany every time.

Christo or Leonardo?

Wind-blown, land-bound sails or da Vinci%26#39;s titanic sketches of clouds and flood?

Kids rock-climbing on statuary (as they do every day of the year in Central Park) or a young artist enthralled before ';Study for the Head of a Soldier in the Battle of Anghiari in Red chalk on ochre-pink prepared paper';?

Why can%26#39;t a person appreciate both?

Perhaps some people can. I do not count myself among them. It could very well be an intolerance for ambiguity.

';Yes, it engages the senses but what does it all mean?'; is not a question I want to ask myself after waiting on a mile-long line to have my artistic sensibilities tweaked.

Having fun for me is simply not enough. I want just a dollop of transcendance from my artistic ';treasures';.

I much prefer simply standing in amazement before a work of art--a drawing of a woman%26#39;s windstrewn hair from a storm high over the Arno Valley or a rendering of a riled cat--and asking myself ';How is it that from these sketches I get a sense of the inscrutable rhthyms behind the visible world?';

For thirty minutes I was given the rare privilege of not only seeing the world through da Vinci%26#39;s eyes, but the whole universe.

For a brief and ephemeral time, I was empowered to comprehend the glorious vision of one of humanity%26#39;s towering geniuses.

I wonder how many of those who snaked through ';The Gates'; will remember the occassion as the single-most astonishing artistic experience of their lives?

';Veni, Vidi, volo in domum redire.';