Evanston: Cloud Gate
Evanston: Cloud Gate
Before we had dinner at Topolobampo last Saturday (see preceding entry), we spent the afternoon at the Chicago Art Institute and Millennium Park.
The Art Institute has many fine and famous paintings, but I’m not certain that any museum is the best place to view art. There is simply too much: too many objects impinging upon one another in the observer’s eye and mind; too many other people jostling for their glance; too much pressure to move on. But museums serve a purpose and I don’t have an alternative, except to visit them during off hours. Computer images of paintings lack dimension, texture, and nuance, and are a distant second choice to seeing the real thing.
Adjacent to the Art Institute is Millennium Park, which judging by the number of people frequenting it on a hot summer afternoon is a huge success.
The park’s three main features are a pavilion for outdoor concerts designed by Frank Gehry; the Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa, which consists of two 50’ high glass block towers that project images of representative Chicagoans, from whose mouths water sometimes spouts; and Cloud Gate, shown in the photos above, by Anish Kapoor.
For obvious reasons, the huge sculpture is more commonly known as “The Bean.” I had to look up its true name.
Cloud Gate is seemingly seamless stainless steel. It is highly polished. At 33’ tall and 66’ wide that must keep several city employees busy.
The first photo is taken from inside Cloud Gate looking up. It reminds me of something by Hieronymus Bosch--perhaps a modern ‘Garden of Earthy Delights’--and is best seen in a larger size, which can be found here.
Other photos of the park will appear in future entries.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007