Oversized Underwhelming Croquet Hoops

... aptly describes the Cristo Gates project in Central Park. There might be seven and a half thousand of the orange eyesores, but you can only see a few dozen at any moment, the rest being obscured by trees, hills or other gates. Apparently the original vision called for three times as many, which might have made a difference - as it is, the gates don't so much transform the park, as become buried inside it. Moreover the individual gates aren't much to look at, being squat and painted a uniform construction-color orange. While any kind of happening is a welcome addition to the Park, my friend Victor pointed out that in his hometown, they occasionally mixed things up by painting the garbage cans green, but nobody made quite such a big deal of it. That's pretty much how I feel. Those who enthuse about the gates don't lose any time in informing you that the materials used are completely recyclable. In my view, the artist's vision would have been even more grand if the gates had gone straight from manufacture to recycling without the hiatus in Central Park.