Christo

1935 -

American (Gabrova, Bulgaria -)

In 1958 Christo went to Paris where he met is wife and artistic collaborator Jeanne-Claude. His early work focused on the concealing or obscuring of objects by wrapping them in cloth. His work thus places greater emphasis on the container than the contained. As a couple they have worked on large-scale environmental projects since 1968 when they wrapped the Kunsthalle in Bern, Switzerland. Since that time they have the wrapped the Reichstag in Berlin and the Pont-Neuf bridge in Paris, produced the 24-mile-long Running Fence in Sonoma and Marin counties in California, and, most recently, installed The Gates in New York City’s Central Park. They have gained much attention through the scale and places that they choosemto work. Together they raise the money for each of their projects through the production and sale of many preparatory drawings, collages, project photographs, books, and films. After each of their projects’ completion, they carefully dismantle them, attempting to eliminate ecological damage to the site. In some regards their pieces can be seen as performances. Like performances, drawings and other forms of documentation are the only remnant of the work. For each project the artists’ wish us to see the familiar anew and to aesthetically appreciate their interventions into space and time.