Chicago, Kalamazoo (MI), and New York City: 09-17/May/2007

One more reason to love Chicago!

Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor, an Indian artist based in London, rests in Millennium Park in Chicago city. I missed it last year owing to bad weather on the day that we planned to pay our visit. It was not mentioned in my guidebook (it seemed) as it was just dedicated to the city sometime right after my trip (May 2006) even though its completion is noted to be sometime much earlier, in 2004.

At first I wondered what it was when I saw this 'Bean', its nickname, everywhere on postcards.

It is such an impressive and fascinating artwork that fully engaged my attention and stimulated every fiber of my body when I stood right in front of it this year, 2007. Snatching some 15 minutes before my train to Kalamazoo from Chicago, I did visit this giant 'bean'. The sight stimulated tremendous visual enjoyment and amazement and drew a smiling curve on my lips!

What a clever idea of Anish Kapoor!!

Looking at the work, I saw the skyline of this city of skyscrapers be entirely absorbed on its glossy surface. (Imagine what sight it will offer if we have any chance to take a look of it from above!) Everything is contained within this work in spite of the unmeasurable vastness of the city. The real skyline stretched out in front of me when I turned my eyes to see the real world.

It is a gate, as I suppose what its name--Cloud Gate--suggests, that greets visitors to the city. It is a bean, a name that I somehow prefer, a nickname that denotes its position as the origin and the beginning point of any organic development. Life begins in a bean (no matter what kind it might be), and a bean has everything to nourish the life that grows from it. The microcosmic vision of the bean leads us to witness and imagine how the entire city grew out of and is maturing in a talented and artistic temper.