Here are the numbers:
"The Gates" opened in February, 2005. Two weeks later they were "whoosh"
gone. There were 7,500 gates festooned with saffron-colored fabric panels along the walkways from 59th Street to 110th Street.
The artists, Christo and his wife-collaborator Jeanne-Claude, financed the $20+ million project-- which they first proposed
in 1979, fighting red tape for a quarter of a century.
With their friend Michael Bloomberg installed as mayor, they got the
green light.
Documantarian Albert Maysles says "Christo considers human reaction
a part of the art."\
The Gates was planned for February to create
a visual river of gold appearing and disappearing through the bare branches of trees, highlighting the shapes along footpaths.
Some New Yorkers had houseguests from Europe in town to see the billowing saffron.
Contractors with flatbed trucks and 31 forklifts distributied
15,000 steel bases along 23 miles of footpaths. The gates were 16-feet high separated at 12-foot intervals, holding 7,700
vibrant fabric panels.
Jeanne-Claude said "We create works of joy and beauty. We do not create
messages. We do not create symbols... It will be gone, and then it will be 'once upon a time.'" The Christo creed is
that art is good for nothing, except to be art-- albeit an uplift to the spirits of park-goers!
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who wrapped the German Reichstage, hope
to recoup much of their costs by selling drawings and photos.
