Christo's Gates

("Cub Driver" wrote)
Christo and Jeanne-Claude raise the money by selling photographs,
paintings, and probably strips of cloth (I'm not sure about that) from
their wraps.


http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/tg.html#gatesFAQ

(From the website)
Christo and Jeanne-Claude regard this all their artworks as babies, created
jointly in love, that come into the world with their own strengths and
frailties, living things that are cherished.

Their short life-spans creates a preciousness and an urgency, encouraging us
to bear witness and drink in the art as much as we can, while we can, all
the while knowing it may well be gone the next time we visit the site -- in
this case Central Park.

Our memories of this experience are how the artwork changes us -- perhaps
the most powerful force of art, that the changes made are not in the site,
but in us.


Can I purchase a "gate" or fabric after the installation?

Separate "gates" and their components are not available to anyone and there
are reasons that emerge from Christo and Jeanne-Claude's aesthetic for this.
The Gates and their components will be industrially recycled.

The work of art in The Gates is the entire environment, in this case Central
Park and its surrounding environs. To experience the artwork, one immerses
oneself into that environment. Each separate "gate" would be merely a relic
of the artwork and not a work of art. Seven thousand, five hundred
structures together in Central Park IS a work of art.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude wish to reverse the relationship in art between
artwork and relic. Christo's preparatory works, predict what a Christo and
Jeanne-Claude work of art will look and feel like.


Montblack
My definition of art has always been: If I can do that, it ain't art. The
Gates IS art - I would have picked the wrong color fabric (something on
sale) or made the gates out of white PVC.