Description of Christo and Jeanne Claude`s Installation The Gates Essay

Description of Christo and Jeanne Claude`s Installation The Gates - Essay Example It is all about altering the space and thus altering the eye. ‘The Gates’ have a rare quality that combines an open invitation with an exciting sense of mystery at every step into it. The saffron clothe hung at each gate just like a half-curtain had a function of masking the view ahead, for a few moments, when a person passes through it (Christo and Jeanne Claude â€Å"The Gates†). The gates masked the panoramic view at each step but also revealed a new vision also at every step (Christo and Jeanne Claude â€Å"The Gates†). The saffron wardrobe in which Christo and Claude had dressed up the classic elegance of the park provided a contrast beyond comparisons so as to make the onlooker feel as if he/she was entering a surreal world (Christo and Jeanne Claude â€Å"The Gates†). The monotony of visual experience caused by the repetition of the gates has a purpose to serve. It hides the contours of the park and gives out a monolithic experience where even when a visitor walks miles and miles, she would feel she had not moved at all. By repeating the space and expanding it, thus the artists had manipulated time as well, by instilling a feeling of eternity. The equal distance that is kept between the gates is yet another artistic technique to enrich the feeling of infinity. The very material presence of the textile is suggestive of the time-limited nature of this work of art. It is evident to the visitor to this work of art that it is not going to last forever just like a painting or a sculpture. Yet it has a unique value as a spectacle, a value that a painting or a sculpture cannot command. It is the time-constraint that imparted it a value as a spectacle. The installation also offered the onlookers, a side view, from the road, which was equal to an outside v iew. From this viewpoint, the gates transformed into a neat row of big women legs clad in saffron skirts (Christo and Jeanne Claude â€Å"The Gates†).