Erik Moe: Critic at Large

Yesterday, I took a quick trip up to NYC for a stroll through Central Park and Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Gates project with friends. I eat this kind of landscape transformation up, of course, so I’ve been excited about the prospect of seeing this since first reading about it a year or so ago. Much has been written and said about the gates, but this sort of thing is really about the experience of being there, so I’m only going to contribute a couple of thoughts to the chatter…

1. The color orange – at least for the moment – has become art all by itself. While walking around Brooklyn, the subways, and today in Philly I couldn’t help feeling like people wearing orange clothes were part of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work. Even a tower under construction near the park was transformed (at right). The orange safety fences on each floor of the shell seemed to become part of the experience.

2. The impression of the landscape reminded me very much of Minneapolis parks in wintertime. Often orange snow fences are put in place to keep people from straying onto dangerous ice.

3. It was interesting to observe everyone’s tendency to try to find a perfect vista, as though the work was a painting to be taken in from one spot rather than an experience to be taken in over however many miles of pathways.

4. The whole thing is, in fact, magical.

5. OLMSTEAD is the name of the landscape architect who designed Central Park. I couldn’t think of it yesterday. Some have suggested that he must be rolling in his grave right now. I disagree. I think the gates are consistent with his approach to landscape design as painting. The placement of colors in the landscape was central to Olmstead’s approach, and the installation calls attention to this fundamental aspect of Central Park. The gates highlights distance and contrast in a way that is difficult to see if you don’t take the time to meditate on it. When the gates are taken down and recycled, we may all see Olmstead’s compositions for the first time. (aside: Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City includes Olmstead as one of many characters involved with the great Chicago World’s Exposition, and is a fun read).