 "W"rapture
All I can imagine now is sitting in the park this month admiring the silky saffron
sways to the motion of the cool New York City air
Tala Dowlatshahi
February 6, 2005
iranian.com
A few years ago, I was given a print of The Gates project for Central
Park, New York City. The print was a gift from a former
board member of a school programme I used to help manage. The unique
quality of the print was the signature by the artist himself, Christo,
back in 1980, when initial design for the project began. American-Bulgarian
Christo and his wife, American-French Jeanne Claude, are responsible
for a series of amazing wrap works around the world. Often using
materials including pencil, polyethylene, twine, charcoal, nylon,
rope, pastel, crayon and photostat, the talented duo are credited for
wrapping the Pont-Neuf, The Mastaba of Abu Dhabi, and the
Reichstag.
Since receiving this gift, I have spent many nights staring
at the print in my kitchen in anticipation of its visible arrival
to Central Park this month. It's finally happening. My obsession
can now be quenched and I will be able to walk Central Park from
the 12-27 of February and explore The Gates alluring "w"rapture.
The Gates project consists of over 7,500 freestanding doorway structures
covered in saffron fabric. The project will span 23 miles of the
park's pedestrian parkway. Young couples hand in hand, mothers
and their babies in strollers and horse-carriages entertaining
tourists, all will be able to consume the luxurious weaving of
the doorways stretching along the barren wintery park.
This weekend,
the filmmaker Albert Maysles was honored downtown on Bowery street
at the Zoom In awards ceremony. His over 26-year
dedication to documenting The Gates in its entire process--step
by step, moment by moment, was commended by fellow documentary
filmmakers and producers. In Maysles opinion, "The Gates
is like a blessing on the park. And now is the time when we could
really use something uplifting."
In his book entitled "Christo," the
French author Dominique G. Laporte writes of art
as a replacement for politics, claiming that the works of Christo
and Jeanne Claude have "failed to appreciate fully the
predictive values of their (its) utopias." He claims quite
eloquently that the viewer is forced to ask himself: "What is going
on underneath the draperies?"
This is particularly significant
with the wrapping of the Reichstag and wrapped running fences and
walls. Though the art addresses the values in recognizing conflict
and war, the bound fabrics also imply the need to control the expansion
of divisive forces. Perhaps New Yorkers will see these covered
doorways as doors closed to ideas outside the realm of the bright,
orange colors that wrap and conceal their presence.
All I can imagine now is sitting in the park this month admiring
the silky saffron sways to the motion of the cool New York City
air. In illuminating and romanticizing the notions of life and
art as transforming parallel concepts, Christo and Jeanne Claude
will make 2005 a year to remember.
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"W"rapture