gridlore: Doug looking off camera with a grin (Bosch)
Douglas Berry ([personal profile] gridlore) wrote2005-03-13 08:42 am

But I know what I like.

You Call That Art?

People got very excited about Christo's latest public art work, "The Gates," in New York's Central Park. For two week's 7,500 metal gates draped with orange fabric were staked along 23 miles of the park's footpaths. Some people called "The Gates" a masterpiece. Others called it an ugly nuisance.

The best part of the article is where they took reproductions of masterpieces, and placed them alongside "non-art".. framed bits of fabric they got from a discount store, paintings by elephants and four year olds, and had people, both art critics and the general public judge them. The results? The art world is full of crap.

[identity profile] tavella.livejournal.com 2005-03-13 09:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Very few of his works obscure the setting; like the Gates, most of them are objects in landscape, the wrapping of the Pont de Neuf and the Brandenburg Gate are exceptions. Things like Running Fence or the umbrellas (I'm actually finding it disturbing how many of these projects I remember!) are more typical.

My general reaction to Christo projects is that they invariably sound stupid but end up looking quite beautiful. I wouldn't call them deep, but then I don't think art has to be deep.