10-22-09 The Bean

I only live about 50 minutes from Chicago and every time I go to Chicago I love going to the Cloud Gate, but I always know of it as The Bean. I searched on Google for pictures and found many with people gathered around, but then I found a picture of the bean with the skyline reflecting. I think the reflection is the coolest part of the design of the bean. I would imagine the designer of the bean thought about the idea of having the reflection of the skyline and people’s reflection just like a mirror. I think the designer spent a lot of time on the design and figuring out what angle the bean would have to be at for the reflection of the skyline to reflect. I think a lot of people spend time going and taking pictures at the bean. I also wanted to find more information so I looked up on Google. It weighs 110 tons and there is a 12 foot high path underneath the sculpture. Visitors are able to touch the sculpture and have their image reflected to take pictures. The sculpture is the largest kind of sculpture in the world and is 66 feet long and 33 feet high. It is called the Cloud Gate and is located at the AT&T Plaza which was given by a gift from AT&T. The artist was selected in 1999 and then the Cloud Gate was completed in the summer of 2005. The artist of the Cloud Gate is Anish Kapoor and the engineer is Chris Hornzee; both are from London, England. The artist was inspired by liquid mercury. I love the bean and think it is an awesome sculpture of art.