Twenty-six years is a long time to wait to complete a project. But that's just what artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude have done with The Gates.
Set to open officially Feb. 12 in New York's Central Park, The Gates is a monumental undertaking that will display 7,500 saffron-colored flags hanging from 16-foot-high gates set along 23 miles of the park's footpaths. The aesthetic effect is intended to be like a golden river suspended in the air, ebbing and flowing with the wind.
Originally planned in 1979, The Gates has existed only on paper until now, as Christo and Jeanne-Claude had never been able to get the required permits to stage the project. Only upon New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's election in 2001 did the bureaucratic resistance disappear.
And while the two artists are no strangers to lengthy waits for the realization of their work -- their Wrapped Trees in Riehen, Switzerland, took 32 years, and Wrapped Reichstag in Berlin took 25 years -- Christo and Jeanne-Claude are nonetheless ecstatic to finally be able to unveil The Gates.
"I guess when Christo and I will be walking on the walkways under The Gates, we will feel exactly like a woman feels when the doctor says, 'It's a girl,'" said Jeanne-Claude. "We will feel, 'It's The Gates.'"
For decades, Christo and Jeanne-Claude -- who are equal collaborators on all their projects -- have been famous for creating one monumental work after another. They're most famous for their series of wrapped objects such as Paris' Pont Neuf and Berlin's Reichstag. But they've also completed works such as Running Fence, 24.5 miles of white fabric fence stretched throughout California's Sonoma and Marin counties in 1976, and 1991's The Umbrellas, which consisted of 3,100 large umbrellas spread out simultaneously across 12 miles in Japan and 18 miles in California.
The Gates involves 7,500 gates, which are spread out at 12-foot intervals -- except when there is a tree in the way -- and from which the saffron fabric will hang down to about seven feet above the ground.
The project -- which incorporates 65 miles of recyclable saffron vinyl, 15,000 615-to-837-pound steel base footings, 5,290 tons of steel, 60 miles of vinyl tubing and 116,000 miles of nylon thread -- is expected to cost in excess of $20 million. And as with all of their projects, Christo and Jeanne-Claude are footing the entire bill, largely through the sale of studies, drawings, collages and scale models of the project.
It will be removed after 16 days.
In many ways, The Gates is most notable for existing at all, given the troubles Christo and Jeanne-Claude had convincing the city of New York and Central Park authorities to give them the thumbs up.
But Bloomberg's election changed all that, especially after the artists were willing to bend on some of the project's particulars.
Set to open officially Feb. 12 in New York's Central Park, The Gates is a monumental undertaking that will display 7,500 saffron-colored flags hanging from 16-foot-high gates set along 23 miles of the park's footpaths. The aesthetic effect is intended to be like a golden river suspended in the air, ebbing and flowing with the wind.
Originally planned in 1979, The Gates has existed only on paper until now, as Christo and Jeanne-Claude had never been able to get the required permits to stage the project. Only upon New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's election in 2001 did the bureaucratic resistance disappear.
And while the two artists are no strangers to lengthy waits for the realization of their work -- their Wrapped Trees in Riehen, Switzerland, took 32 years, and Wrapped Reichstag in Berlin took 25 years -- Christo and Jeanne-Claude are nonetheless ecstatic to finally be able to unveil The Gates.
"I guess when Christo and I will be walking on the walkways under The Gates, we will feel exactly like a woman feels when the doctor says, 'It's a girl,'" said Jeanne-Claude. "We will feel, 'It's The Gates.'"
For decades, Christo and Jeanne-Claude -- who are equal collaborators on all their projects -- have been famous for creating one monumental work after another. They're most famous for their series of wrapped objects such as Paris' Pont Neuf and Berlin's Reichstag. But they've also completed works such as Running Fence, 24.5 miles of white fabric fence stretched throughout California's Sonoma and Marin counties in 1976, and 1991's The Umbrellas, which consisted of 3,100 large umbrellas spread out simultaneously across 12 miles in Japan and 18 miles in California.
The Gates involves 7,500 gates, which are spread out at 12-foot intervals -- except when there is a tree in the way -- and from which the saffron fabric will hang down to about seven feet above the ground.
The project -- which incorporates 65 miles of recyclable saffron vinyl, 15,000 615-to-837-pound steel base footings, 5,290 tons of steel, 60 miles of vinyl tubing and 116,000 miles of nylon thread -- is expected to cost in excess of $20 million. And as with all of their projects, Christo and Jeanne-Claude are footing the entire bill, largely through the sale of studies, drawings, collages and scale models of the project.
It will be removed after 16 days.
In many ways, The Gates is most notable for existing at all, given the troubles Christo and Jeanne-Claude had convincing the city of New York and Central Park authorities to give them the thumbs up.
But Bloomberg's election changed all that, especially after the artists were willing to bend on some of the project's particulars.
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