After all the controversy and hype about the chicago "Bean" in the last years, I decided that I would actually get out of the car this time and check it out.
By "controversy" I mean that, when the "bean" was being erected some complained about the amount of money it cost to build the sculpture and many believed that there was a much better way the city of chicago could've spent the millions of dollars.
However, after visiting the "bean" and reading a few articles about the piece, I came to appreciate it a lot more, as do the hundreds of tourists and chicago natives that visit it each day.
The actual name of the piece is the "Cloud Gate" and it was constructed by British Artist Anish Kapoor in 2007.
The cloud gate is a monstrous, seamless, stainless steal "kidney bean" shaped object that sits right in the center of Chicago's new Millennium park. The gate part of it stretches 12 feet high and allows observers to walk underneath the mirror like object and see themselves joined with the beautiful skyline of chicago. (millienumpark.org)
Kapoor's idea for Cloud gate has been said to come from looking at and playing with liquid mercury. You can fully see the resemblance on a clear day when you can see all of yourself, the sky and the skyline reflected back at you.
Unfortunately when i arrived at the bean it was dark out, so the pictures I captured of me and my daughter playing with our reflections didn't turn out too well. The most impressive thing that stood out to me though, was that the entire sculpture does not have one cut, rivet, or seam visible on the entire thing. It literally looks like a drop of liquid mercury and reflections are distorted from side to side depending on your placement around it and perspective.
the 475 million dollar millennium park, is well worth both the money and the visit. Besides the cloud gate "bean" there is a lot more for both enthusiasts and families to check out!
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