Wednesday, March 09, 2005

A Triumph of Humanity

"The Gates."  So that's what you call 15,006 4x4's with annoyingly orange (no, I won't call it "saffron") shower curtains hung on them?  That's what they're called by Christo and Jeanne-Claude.  Do they have last names?  Dunno...but they're artists, whaddaya expect?

Apparently, there's some deep, artistic purpose in their constructing this odd work of art, if you can call it that, in Central Park, New York.  Here are links to the articles you should read to get pretty much all you'd ever care to know about the, uh, "gates":

One more thing--nobody seems so have asked what the heck it's all supposed to mean.  How about this...when asked what the gates mean, Christo said:

"You ask us to talk.  This project is not involving talk," explained Christo.
What was the exhibit for?  Park visitors who asked the question all received the same answer.
"Absolutely nothing," volunteers working on the project said.  "It is only a work of art."
God's World News, March 8, 2005

Oh, good.  Glad to know that, I was just checking.  Didn't think they could actually have any significance whatsoever.  I'm grateful for your contribution to the human race, guys.

Did you happen to run across any stats in those articles?  (You did, I'm sure, because I linked to ones with stats.)  How about...

  • size of project: 7,503 frames; 23 miles long
  • time in planning: 26 years
  • time on display: 16 days
  • cost: in the neighborhood of $21,000,000

What.
A.
Joke.

Let me get this right...they actually consider this...monstrosity...an edifying experience?  Art, no less?  Have you any idea how many starving children we could feed with $21 mil?  How many humanitarian projects could have been funded in NYC, instead of catering to the mindless, pandering praise of the liberals rich enough to make a visit to the Park?  (Oh wait, you have to be rich to afford being a liberal....)  Does no one see what is so fundamentally wrong with such a waste--and the glorifying of it?

I submit that this "work of art" is, in fact, sinful.  Think of the good that could have been done...think of the lives that could have been saved, or improved...think of the time wasted on such a pointless thing.  And that's the kicker--it's supposed to be pointless!  Then, please, do the gene pool a big favor and go back to your little art studio for the next 26 years.  And, by the way, next time you happen to find $21,000,000 lying around in that studio, send it to Samaritan's Purse or the Salvation Army or something.  I'm sure they'd appreciate a check a bit more than thousands of spraypainted 4x4's and ugly curtains.  And maybe, just maybe, then you'd make a real impact on people's lives.  Anyway, to take such time and such funds and such hype and use it for something ostensibly useless...it's just wrong, plain and simple.  I don't care what Zen feeling you got out of walking under an orange piece of cloth...sorry, man, but all you did was walk under an orange piece of cloth.  Let's attach meaning and emotion to other people, not our own, self-focused, Godless musings.

Okay, I'm done.  I could go on...but you get the idea.  These people make me mad.  

And (oops, I said I was done...just one more thing!), by the way, I would not be at all surprised if they got grants for that shameless mass of poor stewardship.  If they did, I'd like very much to see how much of that money came from the government.  Just what they did makes me angry...I would be incensed to find out that I paid for any part in it.  Our taxes better not have been used for this.

This time, I'm done foreal.  Honest.


posted by Jeffrey J. Stables at 6:35 PM