Christo is a name I grew up with, even before I knew what installation art was, or that I was personally leaning towards installation art myself in my own work. His work has always been larger than life, as has the artist, joining the ranks of other one-name monikers Madonna, sting, Bono, etc, with his own quasi-rock-star status in the art world. And like a rocker, his work is not without controversy. Nor is it universally liked. Even fellow artists can't seem to agree about the validity or "goodness" of his art. Is it a blight on the environment? A moving social "happening"? A quiet meditative experience? The truest expression of "Art for Art's Sake"? We put those questions to the members of EBSQ. What follows below is a sampling of a discussion we had on this topic via our message boards:

Diana Mae Potts says:

Hmmmm...

I saw this mentioned on David Letterman the other night when I was watching to see Tori Amos. It sounds intriguing. An old boyfriend of mine had thought once of doing a landscape type installation like that where long tubes of fabric would be set up for people to walk through on a hilly landscape. This is along those lines. I'd always been curious about something like this. It's too bad that Carl never got a chance to do his idea.

For those who have asked before, wouldn't this be Conceptual Art?

Trevor Clark says:

I haven't seen it, nor would I bother to make the long trek to see it. It is just exterior design. If I want to see an example of people with expanded egos trying to improve (in their opinion) an existing surrounding, I will just watch an episode of "Changing Rooms". I think that this exhibition is a victory of cash and power over common grace and humility.

Patricia A Bannister says:

I saw something about it on television this morning, and to me it looked like construction zone barriers. Detour markers. Herding devices.

I certainly don't object to the installation, but wouldn't travel across town to see it.

In fact, the Raleigh airport has looked much like that, sans trees, for YEARS now.

Shannon Girouard-Fogl says:

Defacing the horizon....

I wanna look and see something beautiful and magnitizing, something that is more about art and the atmosphere they want to project... not things rushed to get done so the bills would come change hands. There appears to be no thought put into it.

However, if you ask me, the memorial to princess diana was lovely... that made for a wonderful landscape art piece!

...didn't go, just caught it on the TV

David Hughes Brown says:

They look like some sort of oversized metal detectors. Can anyone fill me in on the purpose of them. I mean, it's art .... duh .... but what kind of reaction were they looking for?

Joni Gruber says:

I have only seen photos. I think it is beautiful against the snow...the saffron color and simple gates remind me of Tibet. I guess I'm kind of alone here...I've heard so many people say they hate them and hate Christo.

I wish I could experience them in person since that is how environmental art is intended to be perceived.

Aja says:

I am personally not the biggest fan of Christo (a pretty pompous guy if I do say so myself after meeting him at my college for the new college president inauguration) but Jean-Claude is divine and their work has always had me intrigued.

This piece is so interesting to me. I would so love to make the trip to NYC before it is taken down but don't think I will be able to. Whether one likes Christo and Jean Claude or not, it's hard to pass up being a part of something so amazing. But then again if I ever make it to other parts of the US I want to visit the Spiral Jetty in Utah so... I guess I have always had a thing for this kind of stuff, altering the environment in artistic endeavors. Goldsworthy for example always made me smile. I have had this thing about Christo only because it seems to be a recurring theme throughout my artistic career - when in High school a whole quarter was devoted to Christo and we had to make an environmental installation ourselves. I wrapped the trunks of the trees outside my school in different colored ribbon creating a rainbow of trunks, each tree having one color ribbon in succession. Then in college a final project in sculpture was another environmental installation and my group hung silverware from tree branches on the tree outside the college. Then of course, Christo actually visiting our school. Cause of all of that Christo and Jean-Claude's work has seriously grown on me. Even though when I first saw it I wasn't incredibly impressed, esspecially after learning one of his umbrellas killed a guy and his wrapping of the islands killed some dolphins - as if he didn't care what it actually did to the environment as long as it was done and he was happy. The valley curtain was amazing though to me, I just loved that piece so much. I watched the video from conception to realization and it was just awe inspiring the effort. Sometimes I think its more the act than the final product. If you have seen any of the videos of them putting an installation up, you know what I mean.

So, I notice the fabric in the gates looks so much like the fabric used in the valley curtain. Seems they like those hot colors, saffron, gold, hot pinkish hues...They want to make as big an impact as possible.

From the New York Metro review of the work:

Quote:The Woodstock air that filled the park on the weekend The Gates opened, when strangers talked to one another and pilgrims from outside New York came to admire the spectacle, was enjoyable to everyone but professional grouches and, predictably, the art world. Many in that circle are now in a kind of humorless sulk, resentful of the attention paid to The Gates and appalled by the vulgar crossover of art into mainstream culture. The Gates is a form of visual pollution, in that view, an example of the hype and Philistinism perpetrated by the middle-class American mob. Which, of course, is yet another childlike perspective.

That's interesting to say, that the artworld would be unhappy to see the piece enjoyed by a middle class society....It seems to not be the opinion of the critic, but saying such a thing is rather interesting none the less. This piece is different from all the rest as it melds the curtain theme with the grand spectacle theme of say the umbrellas and wrapping *name your building*. This is something that can be enjoyed and fully interacted with, dare I say without being killed by a falling saffron curtain LOL. Something to sit and drink a cup of coffee and watch blow in the wind like the branches on the trees. Something that to me, looks even more beautiful than the natural surroundings this time of year. Something that warms the city up in the bitter cold. 16 days of warmth in the dead of winter.

I love it.

Robyn Henzel says:

I walk through them every day practically as I live pretty close to the park. I saw them going up, and I am sure I will see them coming down as well.

Robyn Henzel says:

A walk through the gates: http://www.livejournal.com/users/alohashark/260460.html

Caroline Lassovszky Baker says:

I have my own reasons for disliking Christo, pomposity and a college appearance being one of them, but I think I really started feeling the way I do about environmental art after I lived in the coalfields long enough to see why working class America begrudges such "spectacles": Quite simply, they do essentially the same thing every day as part of their jobs and there is NO WAY you don't adversely affect the environment with such projects.

That said, I still think Smithson's spiral jetty is beautiful (isn't it underwater now?) and the impact of seeing such work has to be pretty interesting. (Of course, I was astounded when an entire mountain just disappeared down the road from me in the space of three months, too.) The idea of art that is accesable to everyone is also an interesting part of it, and really a good idea. I gues the "art world" doesn't really like it because they want to be the cultural elite but middle class stuff like celebritiy worship always seems to win out in that arena.

Trevor Clark says:

...[N]ow I think about it harder I realise that my objections probably come more than anything else from my being a working class peasant. As a carpenter I just see a hell of alot of work involved in creating a totally hit and miss temporary frivolity. All that work for what? Maybe it's the philistine in me, or maybe I just don't like it, most likely tho it is probably just the issue of frivolity and waste.

This was the feeling behind my comment in my first post in this thread "I think that this exhibition is a victory of cash and power over common grace and humility."

Posted by: angiereedgarner Posted on: 25. Feb 2005 at 09:47

Joni, I researched the Tibetan Buddhist thing, since that was my response too (I loved them) and blogged what I came up with here:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/angiereedgarner/120229.html

You are so not alone!

Jen Thario says:

I have also been reading a bit of controversy in regards to what happens to their installations upon coming down. What is to become of the thousands of yards of fabric....

http://www.tribe.net/thread/f1b0258a-ef3f-4c0b-8942-13482909bb3d?tribeid=7db22391-eeef-4a0e-8fc6-e4e0978c4065

Quote: The article noted that "previous project fabric has been reborn as carpet padding and haystack tarps," but that, in 1983 "Christo paid $8,000 [U.S.] to have 6.5 million square feet of pink polypropylene remnants of his Surrounded Islands in Miami buried in a solid-waste dump."

I met Christo and Jean Cleaude more than a decade ago when I lived in California and they were recruiting volunteers for the umbrella project. I had a great deal more respect for their work after hearing them talk about it.

For me, the most amazing thing is that they fund their own work, entirely. They are not taking my tax dollars, or that of any other working peasant, in NEA grants. They sell smaller art and artifacts related to the big projects. Some may regard this as conceptual folly, but if you stand back and look at the big picture: (as Mr. Bloomberg did no doubt)

They put people to work, even if only temporarily.

They encouraged tourism.

They have likely made those near their projects more aware of the envirionment.

Their project has likely sparked conversation between strangers.

They put art on the front page of multiple newspapers.

Their projects are in very public spaces, not a private gallery - which I would argue, makes it more accessible to everyone, turning it into a far less 'elitist' venue than the vast majority of art that is displayed. I applaud such a "vulgar crossover of art into mainstream culture"

Imagine seeing this work as a child. Strip out the idea of how much it cost, wasted, the whys and 'meaning', etc. Just imagine the wonderment of seeing such a spectacle whithout all the baggage of our grown up cynicism? What would think your eight year old self have thought?

Posted by: Linda Posted on: 25. Feb 2005 at 13:42

Thank you, Robyn for posting the photos. I have no chance of seeing it in person, so I appreciate seeing the pics.

I LOVE the color. Just love it. Lifts the spirits on a cold winter day.

Posted by: Joni Posted on: 26. Feb 2005 at 16:54

Thanks Angie! I loved this part...

"In a time of war, somehow something almost like a miracle happened in Central Park. Instead of miles of military-themed pomp and flags of red/white/blue, we have this color-- which so reminds me of a dedication to peace and the harder choices involved. An alternate (alternate to military) use of flags and pagentry is also Tibetan-- it is a colorful, life-affirming, celebratory tradition."

That's exactly how I felt when I first saw them.

For additional contemplation:

The Gates: http://christojeanneclaude.net/tg.html

The Somerville Gates: http://www.not-rocket-science.com/gates.htm

The Crackers: http://smilinggoat.com/crackers1.html