Comments on: Recent projects of Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Recent projects of Christo and Jeanne-Claude

hortense — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:57:48 -0800

Over The River Project for the Arkansas River, State of Colorado. The Mastaba of Adu Dhabi Project for the United Arab Emirates

past project more under some artworks. common errors idea of scale

By: vronsky

vronsky — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 20:38:34 -0800

I've loved Christo ever since I saw a documentary on his "running fence" when I was young. Thanks hortense. The mastaba links are amazing.

By: hortense

hortense — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 20:39:42 -0800

Environmental Artist: Yes – because they created many works in Cities – in Urban environments – and also in Rural Environments but NEVER in deserted places, and always sites already prepared and used by people, managed by human beings for human beings. Therefore they are not "Land Art" either. We believe that labels are important, but mostly for bottles of wine.

By: dersins

dersins — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:11:26 -0800

I was always skeptical about Christo's work until that unemployed week in February a couple of years ago I spent wandering all through Central Park. The first day I went to scoff. The second day I went to reconsider. The third day I went to gawk. The fourth day I went to wonder. The fifth day I went to smile. The sixth day I went to explore. The seventh day I went to rest. I still have the swatches of orange fabric from those trips through the park. Sometimes I go for walks in Portland (where I live now) clutching one of them in my hand and I think about how magical it is when a familiar urban landscape is completely transformed. I don't know what art is, really, but anything that has that kind of lasting emotional impact must be art.

By: zardoz

zardoz — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:50:52 -0800

I was in Berlin in 1995 when he wrapped the entire Reichstag in that same material, a thick silver nylon. I still have a swatch of it laying around somewhere. Christo finances these projects himself--where does his money come from? Is the guy just filthy rich?

By: hortense

hortense — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:14:37 -0800

Who pays for the installations? Christo and Jeanne-Claude pay the entire cost of the artworks themselves. They earn all of the money through the sale of the preparatory studies, early works from the 50s and 60s and original lithographs on other subjects. They do not accept grants or sponsorships of any kind. They do not accept donated labor (volunteer help). They do not accept money for things like posters, postcards, books, films, T-shirt and mugs or any other products at all. None. ( from the faq)

By: DenOfSizer

DenOfSizer — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:20:13 -0800

What an odd pairing of projects - the more you think about them together, the weirder they get - plus each individual project is interesting. I love that Mastaba is a carless eco-land in the desert with freeways ringing it. Still, a solar desalination plant seems much more interesting to me than a tarp on a river - I love the Christos, but wouldn't it be nice if they more prominently figured something a bit more ecological into their designs?

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:28:00 -0800

hortense, I saw several of the preparatory studies at the National Gallery of Art a few years ago. It was part of a neat-o "working artists" exhibit--they also had some of Escher's linoleum blocks, some early Durer sketches, things like that. The Christo pieces were very interesting--little models, conceptual sketches, swatches, etc. Fascinating to see the early concepts for well-known (and future--the Mastaba was there) pieces.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:32:15 -0800

Half the sketches for the Mastaba thing are from 1979. Is there any indication it's actually going to be made in the next 30 years?

By: bru

bru — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:04:40 -0800

I just learned in the paper that they were giving a conference last night in Montreal at Concordia University about these 2 projects. "sigh" "Over the River" should be great but I don't think the Mastaba will ever be built, especially in Abu Dabhi: the Emirates are rich with oil but they are also Islamic states. A huge monument to oil, or to the end of oil? Doubtful.