Christo and Jeanne-Claude installation of 'The Gates' in NYC, NY. 2005

The beauty of Christo's work has been his overall vision of using the geographic landscape as his palette for his installations. Christo was one of the rare artists who saw his work big, really big. As he used islands, fences fabric extended across rural landscapes, Christo had no other motive except to temporarily change the status quo and to encourage people to see the world differently. One of his last art installations, before he died, was 'The Gates' which he designed with his creative partner and wife, Jeanne-Claude.

New Yorkers are a fairly hardy lot and walk the city streets no matter what the weather is doing. Having another excuse to explore Central Park in the middle of winter gave New Yorkers and visitors another reason to be outside for some fresh air on the way to meetings, exercise during lunch or just exploring how the ribbon of orange fabric flowing thru the southern section of Central Park changed how people saw and experienced the New York City.

One can only wonder what Frederick Law Olmstead might have thought and said if he was alive to see this. Probably would have loved the creativity and temporarily enhanced how the park was seen during the installation of The Gates.