Standard postcard shot. According to my tour guide, Kapoor never names a work until it's finished, but long before that happened Chicagoans named it "The Bean," and that seems to have stuck as durably as anything.
The official name "Cloud Gate" (Oh, sorry. The "Cloud Gate on AT&T Plaza") supposedly refers to its main jobs: 1.) reflecting the clouds, and 2.) forming a gate to Millennium Park. At least as important is reflecting the lakefront Chicago skyline.
Again according to my guide, Kapoor is pretty disgusted that apparently nobody can walk past it without smearing their fingerprints all over it, most especially kids. But it's a huge attraction, and any artist who babbles on about drawing the observer in as an active participant has to use this as a standard. Oh, until he sees the Crown Fountain.
Directly under the center looking up. Oddly, no one puked or fell over while I was there.
Art participants taking cliched, unimaginative photographs just like the thousands taken that day.
Art participant taking cliched, unimaginative photograph just like the thousands taken that day.
