Five years in the planning, London-based artist Anish Kapoor brings Chicago's brand new Millennium Park, it's aesthetic centrepiece.
This thing is so, so, so coooool!
You must experience it to believe it. People smiling, puzzling, exclaiming--it provoked all kinds of response--but I heard not a negative word about it.
But it's not finished! It's to be covered up again after one week on view--until November--to finish the seams.
Can't wait until it "opens" permanently.Total fun-ness and right across the street from the Art Institute!
Heading Into "The Belly" Of The Beast
Find my spouse and kid (or not). I'm taking the shot.
A major feature of Millennium Park is the 110-ton elliptical sculpture designed by the celebrated British artist Anish Kapoor, one of the most prolific and respected sculptors in the world. "Cloud Gate," the monumental sculpture located on SBC Plaza was named by the artist on June 29 when the final panel of the ellptical sculpture was installed.
The sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly-polished stainless steel "plates" that create an elliptically-arched, highly reflective work with Chicago's skyline and Millennium Park itself as a dramatic backdrop. Visitors will be able to fully experience the majestic nature of the work by literally walking through and around, as it was designed for public interaction. Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high.
Outside the bean. Find me!
Anish Kapoor revealed his chosen title for the elliptical stainless steel sculpture --"Cloud Gate." As is his custom, Kapoor waited until the sculpture was fully assembled to reveal its name. Now on view, the polishing of Cloud Gate will be complete by the fall.
"What I wanted to do in Millennium Park is make something that would engage the Chicago skyline," says Kapoor. "So everything that's white in this model would be ground, earth, and everything that is not white would be sky, so that one will see the clouds kind of floating in, with those very tall buildings reflected in the work.
Inside ~ "The Belly Button"
I'm there. I'm wearing a short, white skirt and gray short sleeve v-neck top, if that helps.
"And then, since it is in the form of a gate, the participant, the viewer, will be able to enter into this very deep chamber that does in a way the same thing to one's reflection as the exterior of the piece is doing to the reflection of the city around.
"It's a multiple-layered experience of a kind of personal space that's opened up in the stone and the city space that's reflected on the exterior."
(the artist)
Please see an update from the Chciago Tribune on Cloud Gate at: http://cyncity.typepad.com/cyn_city/2005/08/making_it_shine.html
Please see my most recent update with photos of the finished Cloud Gate and more.
