Christo's art projects can be seen as temporary large-scale environmental works (both urban and rural environments) which incorporate elements of painting, sculpture, architecture and urban planning. Achieved in the 1980s the Surrounded Islands in Florida featured as a series of giant paintings. The Umbrellas, Japan-USA 1984-91 has more to do with rural-urban planning. The logistics required for Christo's work is collosal: "3,100 umbrellas, each two stories high, 59.3 square meters (638.17 square feet), spread on a total span of 49 Kms (30 miles) by a width of 4 Kms (2.5 miles) along roads and highways, adjacent to barns, temples, churches, gas stations, schools, habitations and cattle."
Unlike the usual architecture and urban planning, "we are our own sponsors and we pay for our works of art with our own money, never accepting any grants nor sponsors" say Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude, who are currently working on two new projects in the USA:
The Gates in Central Park, NYC (started in 1979) and
Over the River, on the Arkansas River, Colorado... "tout simplement genial".
For more information visit
Christo & Jeanne-Claude WebsitePhotos by
Wolfgang Volz
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