TABLEAUX VIVANT
"THE RUNNING FENCE"
BY CHRISTO
Marin and Sonoma Counties, California, September 8 - 22, 1976
|
We all had always liked the one-named Belgian artist Christo and his big, immaginative projects and, I guess, always felt a kinship with his crazy ideas, so that when it was announced that he would do a big show practically in our own neighborhood, we all swung into action.
We went up there a lot, only about an hour north of San Francisco, and Russell took lots of picutres. There it is!
We would get out of the car and look at the fence with everybody else, and always had a good time.
Gee, pretty casual look there, Bill.
And I did a lot of doodling on bits of paper, I guess, thinking of a future painting or such.
It made a big to-do, of course, and was in the papers a lot. Everybody had an opinion.
Before it came down, we got lots of little souveneers.
Later, when we got our wonderful Getstetner machine, we would do a tribute to the Running Fence with one of Russell's photographs, below.
Part of the deal Christo had made with property owners along the route, was that all the materials, that is the nylon cloth, the metal poles and cables and such, were to be given to the property owners. Well, they were able to sell the old metal poles and cables but all that fabric was still around. It was said they were covering their haystacks and such with it, and there would be rumors that sections and pieces of it were around on offer. Still later, Kevin and Josh at Ready Set got offered a whole segment. I was working on our "Salute to the 70's" at the time and said, "Take it, guys! We can use it!" I immediately saw it as a focal point of our exhibit.
It looked spectacular. Here it is behind Karolyn Kiisel and her Yves Saint Laurent "peasant" dress.
NOTE: You can read lots more about Christo and his wife-partner Jeanne-Claude in my Encyclopedia of Images and in Maria Manhattan's wonderful photo essay about the New York project, The Gates, in A Collective Chronolgy, off our Main Menu.
* * *
|
