But is it ART?

All the news that gives you fits. Well, we finally dragged our sorry butts into Manhattan on Tuesday last to see the transient Gates. I went in with little expectations, but was not disappointed. We walked into Central Park right by the Met and were enthralled by the fluttering saffron tinges all around us. We went up to the Roof Garden at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (those A.A.R.P. cards came in handy) where this photo was taken and the views were quite spectacular. Now I heard all the naysayers--what a waste of $21 million --how can you call that art if it is not permanent? Etc., etc. etc. ...Hey, I liked it. It was unusual to look at--it colored up the otherwise grey landscape (and we were there on a sunny day) and its evanescent made it even more beautiful. It was like watching a snowflake evaporate--a moment caught in time... never to be repeated. Now I admit there were some things in the Met I did not get--like those huge white canvasses with the big circle of blue or orange or red. Jackson Pollack I don't get. We sat in front of his huge canvas for a half an hour waiting for it to speak to us and all I could think about was Ed Harris spilling paint on the floor in the film, "Pollack." If you see it as art then it is art. Art speaks to different people in different ways. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So I enjoyed The Gates, despite the naysayers. It was a pleasant experience that I will never forget--so maybe that's what art is.. it is perhaps a shared experience that speaks to you, touches your soul in some way, and leaves a faint or indelible imprint forever despite its temporality.