Wesleyan has attracted interregional attention since the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude chose North College as the site for their latest work, “The Gaites, North College.”
“We’re all so excited about Christo and Jean-Claude choosing Middletown for their latest artwork,” said Middletown Mayor Dominique Thornton. “This is really going to put Middletown on the map, like what The O.C. did for that place. Plus, I can’t help but think that this will help our chances for getting a CSI series based here. It’s so neat how they solve those crimes!”
When asked why they chose Middletown, Jean-Claude was cryptic. “You see, what is it that we do?” she said. “We want to create beautiful works of art of joy and of beauty, which we will build because we believe it will be beautiful. The only way to see beauty it is to build it beautifully? Like every artist, every true artist, we create them for us. Beauty. Beauty…beautiful.”
The work has attracted many art lovers, some trekking from as far south as New Jersey. Additionally, both Meriden and New Haven have sent ambassadors to take in the work and report back to their native peoples.
“I came all the way from Film House to see ‘The Gates,’” said Martha Epstein ’07. “Shit, do you know how far that is? You have to cross like, two streets! But I did it all for Christo.”
The work, which consists of eleven metal arches outfitted with free hanging marigold-colored fabric panels, has received criticism for being too similar to the artists’ last work, “The Gates, Central Park,” which featured about 3 million more metal arches equipped with saffron-colored panels.
“To the haters I say: ridiculous!” said Christo. “We never do twice the same work, each is a completely original concept and idea. All you need to do is look a list of the titles of our works: Wrapped Fountain and Wrapped Tower, Wrapped Kunsthalle, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Wrapped, Wrapped Coast, Wrapped Monuments, Wrapped Floor and Stairway, Wrapped Roman Wall, Wrapped Walk Ways, Wrapped Reichstag, and Wrapped Trees! I believe it is clear that we don’t have a gimmick. Unless you consider making beautiful beauty a gimmick. Plus, these panels are marigold-colored, not saffron.”
Aside from cries of redundancy, the work has caused some controversy on campus. The hullabaloo has even beget a new campus group, Students Against the Gates Cus They’re Kinda Stupid, Not to Mention Possibly Racist, or WesSAGCTKSNMPR.
“Why are ALL of ‘The Gates’ marigold-colored?” said Hermione Johnson ’05. “Wesleyan is supposed to be about diversity and acceptance, and yet we are endorsing a monochromatic artwork.”
“All you need to do is look at this work to see that Christo and Jean-Claude are in cahoots with the Bush Administration,” added Frank Glanville ’05. “However, with graduation coming up, there are less and less chances for me to organize against idiotic causes. For that, I thank Christo.”
The work, which is estimated to have cost $38, is being funded entirely by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The University offered to help offset the cost with funds raised during The Wesleyan Campaign, but Christo and Jeanne-Claude insisted that accepting money would compromise their art.
“Refusing this money assures them that they are working in total freedom for their aesthetic,” said Pat Diamond, Interim Director of Large and Arguably Inane Art Installations at Wesleyan. “It helps keep their art pure.”
“I often say, ‘Our work is a scream of freedom,’” said Christo. “Wesleyan is screaming. Beautiful, beautiful screaming.”
“The Gates is, simply, the most important piece of conceptual art in the history of mankind,” said Wesleyan Professor of Art Eisley Hansen. “It is a veritable orgy of meaning; the tiers of importance are eternal, and brumal. Christo always says that their work is a ‘scream of freedom,’ but to me this work is screaming something different: ‘CULTURAL MILESTONE!’”
“The Gates, North College” will be on display until April 9, or until drunk Wesleyan students decide that it would totally fucking funny to knock them down.
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