Gates

[Dover]

Points of transition, passageways, entrances to sacred space.....

Christo & Jean Claude's Gates in Central Park, NYC (Feb. 2005).










....................

Fashimi Inari Shrine Gates, Kyoto Japan.





There are 30,000 or so Inari shrines around Japan; this is the head shrine. They are dedicated to the gods of rice and sake and associated in general with PROSPERITY and success in business. Foxes, who are connected with the HARVEST, are much in evidence.
At the entrace to the main shrine, there are huge red torii gates, flanked by large fox statues in red bibs. As you go up the mountain, the gates, the foxes, and the shrines get smaller and more numerous, until towards the top of the mountain there’s a maze of tiny shrines all built on top of each other, each attended by tiny foxes.
Aside from the foxes, the shrine is notable for the red torii gates. All shrines have toriis and many of them are painted red, but this goes way beyond. The various paths up the mountain, pass under a near-solid tunnel of over 10,000 red gates, all of them inscribed with the names of sponsors.

[tridim]

1. Gates

[Solon]

2. Gates...

[Huckebein the Raven]

3. Gates part deux:

[Solon]

4. That one is just disturbing....

MY EYES!!!!! MY GODDAMNED MOTHERFUCKING EYES!!!!!!!(I gouge my own eyes out.) AAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!

[Huckebein the Raven]

6. Yep that will send a chill down your spine

:)

[BrklynLiberal]

5. Thanks for posting. There was an incredible film on PBs last night about

the UMBRELLAS that Christo did in Japan and California in 1991. It was 2 hours long and showed all the pain and glory of that experience. They survived a typhoon in Japan and then after two weeks of beautiful weather in California, a sudden, horrible storm uprooted one umbrella in California and killed a woman. All the umbrellas in Japan and California were immediately closed and taken down. It was a tragic end to what had been an incredible experience for over 3 million visitors to the two sites.

Here is how the plan came to reality:

[Dover]

7. Nice photo! Did you take it?

Christo's experiences in Japan and its sites must have had a big influence on the Gates and other work. I sure see the link to the Fushimi Inari Shrine gates.

Here's where I found my photos (which were later altered by the artist to make art prints):

http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/tg.html

[BrklynLiberal]

8. No. I am not that good. I got it from a NY Times online article

(and I don't know anyone who lives in an apartment with that view!!!)

PS That is a great site. Lots of info.

[Dover]

9. Lol! Oops...........thought perhaps you might be 'The Donald'!

Can't Trump that view! Talk about shrines to "prosperity"!

[BrklynLiberal]

10. Nope. Not me. I could not even get in to clean his floors!

:bounce:

[Dover]

11. Christo and Jeanne-Claude to be in Austin, TX. Jan. 2006

At AMOA–Downtown, January 28, 2006 – April 30, 2006


AUSTIN, TEXAS – On the week preceeding the debut of "The Gates" in Central Park, the Austin Museum of Art (AMOA) announces a Christo and Jeanne-Claude retrospective exhibition and visit by the artist team in January of 2006. This featured exhibition is expected to attract the interest and curiosity of the entire community.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude:

This selection of seventy-five works includes preparatory objects for The Gates Project, their long-anticipated installation in New York's Central Park February 12 – 27, 2005. It also includes early wrapped objects, a life-size Store Front, a scale model of the Wrapped Reichstag, preparatory drawings, collages, and large-scale photographs of completed projects such as Wrapped Coast, Valley Curtain, Running Fence, The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Surrounded Islands, The Umbrellas, Japan - USA, Wrapped Reichstag, Wrapped Trees. The exhibition is organized by The Trust for Museum Exhibitions.

The Artist Team

Famous for their fabric installations, Christo and wife-collaborator, Jeanne-Claude have created some of the most compelling and controversial public artworks of the 20th century. Together they challenge perceptions of contemporary art with grand projects to wrap urban and rural sites. In contrast to the ephemeral nature of their creations, designing, securing access, and installing their grandiose projects on private and public property takes years.

AMOA's Long-time Relationship with Christo and Jeanne Claude:
In 1979 (August 25 - October 14) the Austin Museum of Art–Lagunna Gloria introduced many Austinites to the work of Christo and Jeanne Claude with the exhibition Urban Projects, which included 10 scale models, 90 framed photographs, three films: Running Fence, Wrapped Coast, and Valley Curtain—organized by the Insttitute of Contemporary Art, Boston. The Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work Surrounded Islands, Project for Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida, 1983 from the collection of James Armstrong will be featured in AMOA's March 5 – May 15, 2006 exhibition Color//Pattern/Grid at the Austin Museum of Art–Downtown..

AUSTIN MUSEUM OF ART–DOWNTOWN

AMOA–Downtown serves as the Museum's principaal exhibition site and presents continually changing exhibitions and education programs that showcase a diverse array of twentieth-century and contemporary art, including painting, sculpture, photography, prints, and video. To complement the exhibitions, the Museum also presents a broad range of public education programs. The Museum Store offers a range of art-inspired gifts.