After a couple of morning beers watching the demise of England against France in the rugby at the Red Lion, we headed uptown to the Park this morning to see the Gates. Basically, two artists have put 7,500 orange, giant croquet-hoops along the 23 miles of paths that wend their way through Central Park. Each has a saffron piece of cloth draped from the cross-bar, hanging just low enough to touch. Even though it's taken 25 years' planning, and cost a cool $20m, they're only there for about two weeks.
Now they're odd. The first question is why. They're quite impressive, but I think the best view would be from a helicopter high above the park. The experience was marred slightly by the countless other people who decided to go and visit the attraction today (selfish!), but overall, I think I was left with a positive feeling. However, I think I'm more in awe of the logistical side of the offering rather than the art itself. It seems a shame that something so expensive and logistically challenging will be taken down after only two weeks - I wonder if you'll be able to buy any of the arches on eBay.
