When we first got to the park yesterday, it was immediately apparent that Christo's Gates in New York City's Central Park is the ultimate public art project.

It's usually as much fun to watch the people as it is to look at the art, and this was the perfect opportunity. Regardless of all the discussions surrounding the funding for this project, the most essential fact is that it is completely free to the public.

The most poignant example of what public art can be struck me early in the day as I overheard this man talking to his daughter as he led her into the park.

He said, "Can you say art?" and she very shyly twisted her lips. He started to take pictures of her under the gates and said, "See I told you that you would be able to walk through the art, even though you couldn't imagine it."

I offered to take some pictures of them together with their camera and then gave it back to them. The delight on her face as she looked at those photos stayed with me the rest of the day.

The gates are massive--they crawl all over the park in every direction, up hills, down to tunnels, and over bridges.

At first impression one may wonder why they were not called "curtains," because that's what they look like. At the first one I felt like I was walking onto a stage. But as the day progressed I refected on the many associations of "gates"... doorways, stages of life, other dimensions, Japanese tori gates, and gates of enlightment, which seems especially appropriate with the color associations with monks.

Here's a snapshot of Russ, loaded to the hilt with great camera gear to capture the event.

I've recently heard lots of discussion about what to wear to New York and art events. This woman was a perfect match!

We had lunch with the ISC at the Boathouse in the center of Central Park, and Christo and Jean Claude stopped by to say hello. They didn't stay to eat, but did pose for photos and to tell us their favorite viewpoints.

The joy and energy that radiated from them, on this the culmination of a 27 year project, was awesome.

Christo again, and me trying to take a photo. It turned out pretty bad!

As we were leaving the Boathouse, there was a young couple working on the Gates who were passing out small samples of the saffron fabric. I nabbed a piece and then asked him about his expandable pole with the tennis ball. He said it was for knocking the fabric down if it happened to get twisted by the wind. They were very cute.

The other interesting thing about the Gates is that the shocking color opened my eyes to everything else around me in a different way. Twisted trees, buildings, lakes, and winter dead plants all were somehow brought into an extra sharp focus by the brilliant contrast.

In the late afternoon, a nasty rain and wind blew in town, so we went to the Whitney and the especially enjoyable Tim Hawkinson show on the 4th floor.

It was awesome, and we got his signature from his crazy hand writing machine. You can't take photos in the Whitney, but we did go over to an office plaza where the Uberorgan is installed because there wasn't room at the Whitney.

It's a wild thing with huge translucent bladders that blow air down through big horns. The horns and all the kinetics are run by long rolls of "music" much like a roll that drivers a player piano, except the black dots are read by light sensors. These rolls of music are about five stories high.

Then to an Anthony Caro exhibit, then cocktails, then back to the Gates for a night stroll through the park. There was hardly anyone there except police and late-night runners.

Then we went down to Greenwich Village with Rob and True Fisher and ate a great lobster dinner at the Pearl.

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