art doesn't have to mean anything
02.17.05 (3:41 pm) [edit]
okay, my patience is exhausted. since christo "opened" his gates project in central park, people in the mainstream media have been endlessly blathering on about it. here's the deal, folks: it doesn't mean anything. i can't imagine where people have gotten the idea that art has to necessarily mean something. let me be the first to inform you, it doesn't.
when i first heard about christo's works back in the early seventies, i thought the idea of hanging a curtain across a broad swath of land was the stupidest thing i'd ever heard of. ththen, however, when i saw the documentary film that was made about the project, i completely understood. it didn't mean anything, either; it was just breathtakingly beautiful. it was just this living, luminous curtain in the middle of nowhere, for the most part.
since then, i've only seen photographs of his work. my favorites are the bridge in france and the reichstag. they were absolutely beautiful. i'll admit that i'm not that crazy about the umbrellas and i really didn't like the wrapped islands. they ended up looking like someone had spilled an enormous bottle of pepto bismol around them. not great, but that happens to artists sometimes. christo's problem is that there's no way to fix it once it's done. he's just stuck with some pepto bismol islands.
i also love the fact that they're only short term installations. it speaks to the evanescent nature of reality. things appear, they live for a short while and then they're gone. all of his work leads us to recognize that art isn't something that hangs in a museum. art is an integral part of our lives. it can occur anywhere at anytime. and no, it doesn't have to mean a thing.
that reminds me of a great carl andre story, but for now, here's the quote of the day:
"Creativity arises out of the tension between spontaneity and limitations, the latter (like the river banks) forcing the spontaneity into the various forms which are essential to the work of art or poem." ~ Rollo May
america held hostage day 1863
bushism of the day:
"If I'm the president, we're going to have emergency-room care, we're going to have gag orders."
website of the day: christo and jean-claude
http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/index.html.en" title="http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/index.html.en" target="_blank"http://www.christojeanneclaud...
when i first heard about christo's works back in the early seventies, i thought the idea of hanging a curtain across a broad swath of land was the stupidest thing i'd ever heard of. ththen, however, when i saw the documentary film that was made about the project, i completely understood. it didn't mean anything, either; it was just breathtakingly beautiful. it was just this living, luminous curtain in the middle of nowhere, for the most part.
since then, i've only seen photographs of his work. my favorites are the bridge in france and the reichstag. they were absolutely beautiful. i'll admit that i'm not that crazy about the umbrellas and i really didn't like the wrapped islands. they ended up looking like someone had spilled an enormous bottle of pepto bismol around them. not great, but that happens to artists sometimes. christo's problem is that there's no way to fix it once it's done. he's just stuck with some pepto bismol islands.
i also love the fact that they're only short term installations. it speaks to the evanescent nature of reality. things appear, they live for a short while and then they're gone. all of his work leads us to recognize that art isn't something that hangs in a museum. art is an integral part of our lives. it can occur anywhere at anytime. and no, it doesn't have to mean a thing.
that reminds me of a great carl andre story, but for now, here's the quote of the day:
"Creativity arises out of the tension between spontaneity and limitations, the latter (like the river banks) forcing the spontaneity into the various forms which are essential to the work of art or poem." ~ Rollo May
america held hostage day 1863
bushism of the day:
"If I'm the president, we're going to have emergency-room care, we're going to have gag orders."
website of the day: christo and jean-claude
http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/index.html.en" title="http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/index.html.en" target="_blank"http://www.christojeanneclaud...
