I'm sorry, but conceptual art like Christo's stuff is just fucking lame.

[JVS]

It's an equally shitty counterforce to stuff like Thomas Kincaid

[patrice]

1. I liked it at first, but it doesn't get you every time the way one of

those glass things that Chilhueli (sp - South American glass artist) does every time you see it, or a Van Gogh!!!!

[Bridget Burke]

15. You mean Dale Chihuly, the glass artist?

There is an axiom in art that says the talent of an artist is inversely proportionate to the size of his signature. Dale Chihuly signs his drawings really big.

First and foremost a glass artist, the drawings are the worst thing in Chihuly's show at McClain Gallery, but they are also the most revealing. The signatures are so ridiculously large that they become a design element, they make the drawings feel like autographs, which is somehow appropriate because Dale is star and CEO of the Cult of Chihuly, i.e., Chihuly Inc. He has videos, books, innumerable gallery and museum shows and a series of flamboyant glass installations in places as far-flung as Venice and Jerusalem. But Chihuly's genius lies not in the glassworks he creates with his teams of minions but in the way he has turned their output into an industry. He is a Thomas Kinkade for a slightly more discriminating and significantly more affluent set. Where prices at Kinkade's mall storefronts range from a couple of bucks to thousands, Chihuly's start at $4,500 and soar upwards of $250,000.

http://houstonpress.com/issues/2002-11-21/culture/art.html

Different strokes....

[patrice]

31. That's who I mean. The Kemper here in KC has a few of his pieces on

permanent display . . . but I also really like Van Gogh ( or Dylan Thomas, or Carlos Santana, or classic movies, or any number of other blessings ).

[Hissyspit]

19. "Get you every time"

Who says it's supposed to 'get you every time'?

[patrice]

30. Why would I bother otherwise? When there is so much else that does. n/t

[LynneSin]

2. Sign me up for that team - I don't get it either

:shrug:

and I think of myself as pretty artistically astute

[aden_nak]

3. It was cool, you know, the first time.

But I've seen a variety of their projects, and every project seems to be called, "Let's wrap something up in a whole buttload of cloth." I secretly think they own stock in a textile company somewhere.

[redqueen]

4. I would agree, but then there's that whole 'what is art' argument.

I've seen enough to know I don't like it.

[MrModerate]

5. And pretentious, and pointless, and pedantic, oh my!

"I am zee artiste. You weel be MOOOOVED!"

Puh-leeze.

[SaveElmer]

6. Lame but harmless...

And at least it goes away after a while...though I imagine Frederick Law Olmstead was rolling in his grave!!!

[petronius]

42. Harmless...

...until it falls over and crushes someone! :)

[Swede]

7. Thomas Kincaid sells silk-screened t-shirts.

Buy two,get one free.

[skypilot]

8. And according to "60 Minutes"...

..."If you like six sugars in your coffee, this is the artist for you."

[kedrys]

9. I agree

Check out Olbermann's blog on the subject, it's hilarious:

I'm Not Wild About Saffron

http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/index.html.en">Christo's website is the epitomy of the self-centered, pompous ass "artiste" syndrome. Worth a few giggles as well.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. Hehehehe

"...the city says it's going to have put hundreds of cops in Central Park, to protect 'The Gates.' There have already been attempts to vandalize and graffiti-ize them.

My alibi is airtight - and I will not testify against my neighbors."

:evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin:

[KurtNYC]

10. Volunteers are paid, Fall = February

It is wrapped in lies.

They wanted the project in Fall to play against the foliage with one consistent color. When they were forced to accept February they started to pretend that was what they wanted all along and now say the project means nothing (how Seinfeld of them). And check this:

Every spare inch of space in the park has been converted into a point-of-purchase location. Model yachts have been cleared from the Conservatory Boathouse on 72nd Street to make way for $45 Gates sweatshirts and $1,350 Gates watches. The buzz among the staff is that the $5 Gates maps are the hottest item, with the $20 baseball caps running a close second.

http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/news/ripley/ripley2-14-05.asp

[kmla]

11. It's not really art. Art requires showing something of yourself...

... in whatever medium you wish. Baring your soul, to a certain extent. Any booger-eatin' moron can come up with a lame-ass idea to cover something with a fabric or plastic wrap. The only thing that differentiates Christo from a grocery store bag-boy is scale.

the way I see it, any dumbass can paste a couple of things together and call it art. Even I can even create a lumpy statue concocted of pigeon feces and used duct tape, and give it a clever name. But that doesn't make it art. That just makes it a pile of pigeon poo.

But that's my $.02.

[yellowcanine]

14. Easy to say "anybody can come up with__________"(insert your favorite)

after the fact. The fact is - Christo did it and the naysayers sound a lot like the "you don't really have to be an artist to do abstract art" crowd. I don't know whether what Christo does is art or not. But it is too easy to say "it is not art because anyone could have come up with that idea." Well, anybody didn't and he did. Besides, it is one thing to come up with an idea, it is another to do it. And anybody who thinks it is easy to the projects Christo does is kidding themselves.

[kmla]

24. Nah. I agree. It's not easy to do what he does.

It takes money to do that. Quite a bit, actually. He's actually quite good at finding financiers for his projects, as well as volunteers. In my eyes, however, this still doesn't make him an artist. Just a gifted fundraiser and a good salesman.

But an artist? Not so much.

As far as abstract art is concerned - I quite often enjoy it. Most often for the aesthetic aspect only, since unless I know the artist personally, I have no frame of reference for what (if anything) compelled him/her to compose the work. But that's just me.

Thanks for takin' the time to read and respond.

[Hissyspit]

18. "Art requires showing something of yourself/baring your soul"

Says who?

Conceptual artists argue that IDEAS predominate. You may not agree with that, but that doesn't make you right.

[kmla]

25. Didn't say I was right. All I did was offer my opinion on a

discussion board. I was just..... discussing.

:shrug:

[NashVegas]

39. Who's To Say Saffron In No Way Reflects The Soul of the Artist?

Jazz, for instance, comes in colors, starting with the 'blue' notes.

In the end, we are not affected by how an art shows the soul of an artist. We react because of how our own soul reflects - or rejects - the art.

[patrice]

32. Right on. n/t

[Rowdyboy]

12. Reminds me of my favorite icecream bar as a kid-the "Dreamsicle"

now that its covered with snow!

[Shredr]

13. When one of the umbrellas in LA fell on a woman's head, killing her...

I thought it was a sad but fitting testament to just how lame that cheesey conceptual art is.

Your stupid "art" just killed someone, you idiot.

[Hissyspit]

17. So, no one should ever make movies because people have been

killed filming them? Or it automatically makes a movie bad because someone got killed filming it.

There may be a negligence issue involved, but your logic that that somehow makes it stupid or lame doesn't follow.

[4_Legs_Good]

20. Don't forget the projection room fires

from back before saftey film!

Movies should definitely go!

david

[Shredr]

23. It flows just fine for me

The umbrellas were an eyesore and they killed someone. His pretentious "art" was pointless and ugly and someone died. It's pretty simple.

[4_Legs_Good]

21. I think art is cool, period

Do what you like, that's what I said.

david

[Longgrain]

22. Thank you! Someone said it!

There's lots of art I don't like, but at least I try to understand it, and why it's art. Thank you.

[KittyWampus]

26. At This Point, Christo's Work Seem Derivative Of Himself. So Lame

actually works for me. He and his wife would benefit greatly from branching out into another medium or working on a vastly different scale.

[HEyHEY]

27. Lame! Lame! Lame!

This has been the lame list... brought to you by Seattle's Heavy Metal Community.

[Redstone]

28. Don't be sorry,

Philistine though it may make me, I think so too.

Redstone

[PurityOfEssence]

29. This smacks of bitterness. "Art" is what draws the eye and mind.

First, these people don't draw on public funds for anything. They do their installations as they please, and I, for one of many, enjoy them.

"Art" doesn't have to be something that none of the rest of us could have done or something that "makes sense" or demonstrably depicts something.

Abstract art toys with the mind and feelings. Stimulating those is a goal itself. The pissy dismissal of abstract art as something my kid could have done is more a snippy disgust of those who've found a way to express themselves and garnered money from the act than anything else.

Many abstract artists are hucksters and idiots, but many really do care. The proof is in the involvement.

Many people will view the gates as a reason to get out of their apartments and take the friends/family/kids for a walk. That's a good enough justification for their having been erected. People who don't understand things always spew hate at things they don't understand. It's not a question of "understanding", it's a question of experiencing. Many snotty artists dismiss others who don't like certain things as being conceptually inferior. That's as annoying as the endless legions of those who hate oddball art.

It's an ambient display. These are the peculiar expressions of the very few; view them and enjoy them with your friends. Do they mean anything? Does that matter? They are a change in the terrain that couldn't have happened without great interest from individuals. They are an expression of life itself. Hate it, love it, dismiss it or whatever, but on the level of money-grubbing primitive Americanism, this is something that sustains itself. Even Nazis can't beef about this: they fund themselves.

I like it.

I enjoy things that can't be cleanly and quickly reduced to justifications.

It's a warm feeling to know that people who love things I wouldn't ever think about exist and have the will to produce them.

If you've ever rendered a work of art, you might know how hard all this is.

Enjoy it. Even if one is a contrarian, the act itself sparks endless grist for arguments. Sounds like a good thing.

[miss_kitty]

33. I like it

I wish I could see it in person.

[RPM]

34. I wish i could deface things and litter and have it called art.

instead i get fined.

[Susang]

35. Good for you!

I disagree with your opinion and happen to love Christo and his work. Good for me!

Aren't opinions fun? See, everybody gets to have one. ;-)

[Lavender Brown]

36. :)

[JVS]

37. yeah, wahoo, just like anuses.

[Susang]

43. Well, there you go.

Everybody has one of those too. Coincidence or conceptual art? All in how those anuses are presented. ;-)

[terrya]

38. To each his own. I like Christo's art.

Different strokes for different folks and all of that.

[Squeech]

40. I say

it's fun. Mrs. Squeech and I went down to see the Gates, and had a fine old time. They liven up the park considerably.

An individual Gate is seriously ugly-- a shower curtain the color of a traffic cone, in a rectangular vinyl frame with all the panache of a phone booth. It's when you see rows of them, vanishing into the distance, and following the curves and rises of Olmstead's paths, that it becomes worth it. Yes, Christo is standing on the shoulders of a giant, but on the other hand, getting people to look at an old warhorse like Central Park in a new way is not a trivial achievement.

I also like the contrast between the severely functional lines of the Gates and the faux ski chalet vibe of the park's pre-existing architecture.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude submitted their original proposal in 1979. It would be folly to assume that nothing would have changed in their conception since then.

And it's worth it just to see terminally smug and blase New Yorkers lighten up for a change.

[Radical Activist]

41. I don't like the arrogance of it

The idea that he should be able to impose his garish gateways on what is supposed to be a natural area is unthoughtful of others and arrogant. Just because he wanted to do it doesn't mean he should have been allowed to do it.

I would have felt differently if he had done it on city sidewalks. The city needs the improvement. The park was already its own work of natural art.