CHRISTO

Bulgarian artist, 1935 -

            In 1958, Christo wrapped a can of paint in his studio and hung it on a rope from the ceiling.  He later said he didn't know why he did it.

            He began wrapping lots of different things.  I remember seeing a wrapped picture hung on the wall of an exhibit.  You couldn't see what the picture was, of course.

            In 1969, Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude began working as an artistic duo and wrapped a section of the coastline of Little Bay, Australia, with one million square feet of white nylon, below.

            Their "Valley Curtain" in Rifle, Colorado, was first strung across the Grand Hogback Canyon in 1971, but the wind blew it to shreds.  In the following year, he and his wife successfully hung the 365 foot-long curtain, below.

            In 1974, they received permission to wrap a segment of ancient Roman Wall, in Aureliane, Rome, 51 feet tall by 1,100 feet long, below.

            Then in 1976, Christo and Jeanne-Claude began to hang "The Running Fence" in Marin and Sonoma Counties, north of San Francisco.  It would be 18 feet tall and 24 miles long.

            We would go often to the Fence, and once came away with a sample of the fabric, below.

NOTE:  You can see lots more of the "Running Fence" in the "Time-Line, 1976" off our Main Menu.

            In 1978, Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped 4.5 kilometers of walkways in the Loose Park, in Kansas City, Missouri, below.

            My friend, Ellin Stein, traveled to Biscayne Bay, Miami, Florida, to see Christo and Jeanne-Claude's "Surrounded Islands" in 1985.  She brought me back some souveneers, below. 

            After years of negociactions with the French government, Christo and Jeanne-Claude were permitted to wrap an ancient bridge in the center of Paris, the famous Pont Neuf, below, 1985.

            My friend, Maria Manhattan, was lucky enough to travel there to see it.  She took lots of pictures and brought back some sample souveneers, below.

            To cross the bridge, you had to walk on the cloth.  It even attracted some graffiti, below.

            Nice jacket.

            Then in 1991, Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude produced "The Umbrellas" project in Bakersfield, California, installing 1,760 yellow octagonal umbrellas, each 19 feet tall by 28 feet diameter, below.

            Dottie had to see it, of course.

            With Karolyn Kiisel and her kids, we made a nice picnic under one of the umbrellas, below.  Again, we got some sample souveneers and I did a little drawing.

            And a nice, little key chain.

            "The Umbrellas" was actually a joint project in the United States and in Ibaraki, Japan, where 1,340 blue umbrellas were installed.

            In 1995, Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the German parliament building, the Reichstad in Berlin, with over one million square feet of "silver polypropylene" fabric, below.

            The City of New York finally permitted Christo and Jeanne-Claude to install "The Gates" in February of 2005 (February in New York???), which consisted of 7,500 safron colored fabric gates spread through Central Park, just three blocks from my friend Maria's apartment.  She and her friend, Merry, went often.

            Maria took lots of pictures, of course, from the first installation to the end.

            She ran into Christo and Jeanne-Claude twice, she told me.

NOTE:  See lots more of Maria's pictures and read her great essay "The Gates Are Glorious," in "A Collective Chronology" off our Main Menu.

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            Then, too, Christo and Jeanne-Claude have lots of projects which either never happened or are still in the planning stages.  Below, wrapped trees on the Champs Elysee, Paris, 1969.

            "Two Lower Manhattan Wrapped Buildings," New York, 1979, below.  I can hardly wait!

            "Otterio Mastaba" project for the United Arab Emirates, of 390,000 oil drums, 1973, below.

            I liked that one so much I did a drawing of it myself, below.

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            In 1978, Christo was featured in Charles Schultz' "Peanuts" comic strip, below.  Christo liked it so much he wrapped a dog house and gave it to the Charles Schultz Museum in Santa Rosa, California.

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