Through the Gates

Feb 23, 2005 17:28

On the spur of the moment, jason237 and I decided to drive to New York yesterday to see The Gates in Central Park. We had some adventures getting there--nothing too drastic, just forgetting things and miscommunicating about routes, etc.--but turned onto 5th Avenue and found on-street parking within a couple of blocks, right near an entrance to the park. It was a gorgeous day for February--sunny and just over 40F--and we had dressed well for the weather, so we were quite comfortable.

The Gates themselves are pretty cool--they vary widely in width to fit all the different path-sizes in the park, but are all the same height. They go up and down hills and stairs, around ponds and across bridges. Their bright orange color stood out from the bare trees and paved paths and iced water, like a golden river amid the landscape. jason237 was reminded of Fushimi Inari Jinguua, a shrine he'd visited in Japan.

We wandered around the park for a couple of hours, mostly south of the Reservoir, but we were parked just north of it, so we did see that end of the park. It wasn't crowded, though there was a line at the Belvedere Castle, but there were people everywhere and the people-watching was a major element of the experience. There were obvious couples of every description--young, old, straight, gay, black, white, mixed and multi-colored--and lots of parents (particularly mothers) with children ranging from newborns to retirement age, gangs of friends, co-workers, and many people there alone, all dressed in everything from fishnets to hiking gear with stops along the way for a fabulous feathered coat and high-end business wear. All engaged with their space, smiling and nodding to each other as they rambled and photographed and sat. Down by one of the ponds there was a very excited dog (ducks! there were ducks! in the water! right there! ducks!) and some cute kids climbing on the statue of Hans Christian Anderson.

The artists, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, don't say much about the meaning of their work, but to me this was all about transformation. Every gate you pass through marks a moment in time that is gone and you are a different person on the far side than you were on the near one, if only by virtue of the time you have aged and the experience of walking through the gate. In this case, The Gates also transform their setting, defining it temporarily in a very different way and transforming the experience of the park for everyone in it. It also performed an amazing transformation on the people within the park--here were New Yorkers by the bushelful (together with plenty of out-of-towners) smiling and making eye-contact with strangers.

With the light going, we meandered back to the car and drove down to meet Susan & Daniel at their place. It is always excellent to see them and they took us to a lovely French place around the corner from them. At Cafe Loup we shared wine and conversation while devouring a beet/goat cheese Napoleon and pork loin (jason237 or oysters and cassoulet (me). We resisted our hosts encouragement to stay the night, hopped back in the MINI and drove home. As usual, there was nasty weather in Connecticut (is there such a thing as a clear night in that state?) but we made it with no problems and not too slowly.

art, food, travel

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