Poshdeluxe

i’m worried about the situation in north korea (for a great op/ed piece, check this out). and as usual, i’m worried about the bush administration’s foreign policy for the middle east (this op/ed about sums it up).

but instead, i’m going to focus this post on the Gates Project
currently being installed in central park right now. the times, of
course, has been offering some great coverage of this (in my opinion)
landmark installation piece by christo and jeanne-claude.

this morning i read an article
about the great variety of people who have come together to basically
install hundreds of bright organge gates. i was struck by the whimsical
nature of this collage of people– how much it contrasts with the
heavy, scary things of this world that hover in my brain. people might
say this project isn’t art, but i would wholeheartedly disagree.
anything that can bring such a beautiful mix of humanity together is
the highest form of art you can achieve.

oh how i wish i could be there!

(here’s a few excerpts– you might be surprised by a certain person’s participation!! and also the marfa mention… awesome):

*****

Inside the boathouse, the 600-odd paid volunteers enlisted for the
five-day job were chatting over coffee and rolls, waiting to head off
to their assigned areas. Things had gotten off to a slow start on
Monday. It had taken time for the workers to assemble, find their work
areas and figure out the most efficient way to work.

Still,
every team seemed competitively conscious of its accomplishments. “We
installed 27 gates yesterday,” boasted Ann W. Richards, the former
governor from Texas.

“There’s something magical about people
coming together for a common purpose without something for them to
gain,” she added. “I’m having a ball.”
…..

Like mutual strangers in a reality television show, each team felt
somewhat randomly thrown together. But often, the common strand was
art: Area One, Section 10, for instance, was made up of a performance
artist, an advertising art director, a retired doctor/Yale University
professor, a sculptor/gilder, an architect, an architectural draftsman,
a freelance stagehand and a recent college graduate who is on his way
to become an intern at the Chinati Foundation, a contemporary-art
organization in Marfa, Tex.

“I’ve never seen so many artsy
people in my life,” said Huascar Pimentel, the stagehand, who is one of
the professional workers that was assigned to the team. “These guys are
great - they don’t mind getting their hands dirty.”
…

Still, most people who stopped to chat had positive reactions. “I’m
not sure about the color, but I’m a fan,” Douglas F. Eaton, a United
States District Court judge, said after his daily round of skating.

****

a district court judge who ice skates!! how whimsical can you get?!