“Gates” – Does New Public Art Have To Be Banal To Succeed?

The Central Park “Gates” are gone now, attracting upwards of 3 million people. “Give the artists credit for creating a spectacular public event. Yet as the 7,500 orange panels began to come down Monday, I couldn’t help but wonder: Does public art now have to be bad to be effective, accepted, even loved? Because as art, the big-footed, 16-foot-tall “gates” – gallowslike frames hung with pleated fabric panels that arched over 23 miles of park walkways – defined banality. Yet the $20 million installation inspired what amounted to a worldwide pilgrimage to see the latest creation by the world’s most famous wrappers of buildings and girders of islands.”