About the artist:

Christo (born Javashev Christo) is best known for producing enormous packaging projects: he wraps parks, buildings, and entire outdoor landscapes. Christo has collaborated with his wife Jeanne-Claude for over 40 years on these projects. Christo and Jeanne-Claude were born on the same day, June 13, 1935; Christo in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, and Jeanne-Claude in Morocco. They first met in Paris in October 1958 when Christo painted a portrait of Jeanne-Claude's mother. They then fell in love through creating art work together. Their works include the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin and the Pont-Neuf bridge in Paris, the 24-mile-long (39 km) artwork called Running Fence in Sonoma and Marin counties in California, and The Gates in New York City's Central Park. Jeanne-Claude died, aged 74, on November 18, 2009, from complications of a brain aneurysm. Believing that people should have intense and memorable experiences of art outside the institution of the museum, Christo typically creates temporary wrappings -- generally lasting several weeks -- on a vast scale. Borrowing land, structures, and spaces used and built by the public (and, therefore, already laden with a history of associations and connotations), he momentarily intervenes in the local population’s daily rhythm in order to create "gentle disturbances" intended to refocus citizens' impressions. Such disturbances force each local participant/viewer to examine the way that social interaction becomes entrenched in routine and is consequently deadened. In Christo’s printed and three-dimensional work, Christo wraps an object, challenging the viewer to accurately remember the concealed object and giving it the notion of rarity because it is inaccessible. Nine documentary films were made about the projects of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. One of their most famous projects is Running Fence, which they constructed in Sonoma and Marin Counties, California. Christo and Jeanne-Claude accept no sponsors, they pay for all their expenses for their projects with their own funds. Their work has been included in museum exhibitions in the United States, Australia, Europe and Israel, and are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art , the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo. In such installations as Wrapped Coast -- One Million Sq. Ft. (a 1969 fabric covering of Little Bay in Sydney, Australia), and Wrapped Floors, Wrapped Walk Ways (a 1971 intervention onto and into a house designed by Mies van der Rohe), traditional aesthetic criteria such as line, shape, form, and color are coupled with the immediacy of nature. Some wraps such as Valley Curtain (Rifle, Colorado, 1972), and Running Fence (California, 1976) are titans of dramatic effect, while others such as Wrapped Walk Ways (St. Louis, 1978) exude a romantic, bucolic, and elegant feeling. Regardless of effect or locale, the extensive lines of fabric running along sidewalks, across lawns, and over walls give the environments a renewed sense of intimacy. Although the sense of enclosure and specificity is temporary, it permanently alters the way people experience a given locale. Trivia: Christo and Jeanne-Claude's The Gates wound their way through Central Park in 2005 in New York. The Central Park Conservancy estimated more than one million people entered the park in the event's first five days. February 2005 marked the ephemeral installation of a monumental work of art by Christo and Jeanne-Claude in New York City’s Central Park. First conceived in 1979 and rejected by New York City government in 1981, the project was approved by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration in 2003. The work of art consisted of 7503 16-foot-high vinyl gates with saffron-colored fabric panels on twenty-three miles of the Park’s walkways. Seen from the buildings surrounding the Park, The Gates looked like a saffron flowing river, while those walking through them experienced the ambience of a fluid golden ceiling. Financed entirely by Christo and Jeanne-Claude through their C.V.J. Corporation, The Gates were assembled and installed by thousands of paid workers. Completed on February 12, 2005, The Gates remained in place for sixteen days, after which they were removed and the materials recycled. The work of art was free for all visitors, who continued to use Central Park during the whole process. This historic event provided a memorable and joyous experience for New Yorkers and visitors. Christo attended the Fine Arts Academy of Sofia and Vienna. Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art , the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo. Christo and Jeanne-Claude's Umbrella Project in 1991 was the most ambitious and expensive project they have ever undertaken. 1340 blue six metre umbrellas were assembled and erected throughout a narrow valley in rural Japan. 7000 yellow umbrellas were similarly prepared across the Pacific in a dry expanse of Californian land. After months of gruelling process, the two countries united as the forest of umbrellas were opened simultaneously on both continents. The blue symbolised the plentitude of water in the Japanese terrain, and the yellow represented the heat of the American valley. For Christo the umbrellas were "freestanding, dynamic modules... which reflected the availability of the land in each valley, creating an invitational, inner space". The umbrellas were removed after two weeks. In the summer of 1995, the Reichstag building in Berlin was transformed into an immense sculptural experience by Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude along with a team of hundreds. Wrapping historic structures in silvery fabric and blue cable has become a famous tradition for Christo and Jeanne-Claude: landscape projects in the USA, Japan, and Australia and urban projects such as the Pont Neuf in Paris have established them as the most extraordinary artist couple of the age. Their son, the poet and writer Cyril, was born in 1960. To keep their art pure, the couple bear all of the costs for their installations themselves. This includes paying all the workers who work on the installations. Most of the money raised is through the sales of Christo's extraordinary preparatory studies. For me, these studies alone are staggeringly beautiful and place him ahead of all other artists of his generation. Check out the gallery part of this site to see what I mean. As of 2006 they have completed 18 projects. Though in comparsion to the rest of their work they have done very few wrappings, for this viewer these wrappings are a highlight. It is not for me (and, I confess, wouldn't be able to) to put into words the effect of the wrappings; rather anyone who has seen them will have a feeling, an altering of realism, which, for good or for bad, will change their viewpoint of the object that has been wrapped. Wolfgang Volz (born 1948) has been working with Christo and Jeanne-Claude since 1972. He is responsible for, among other things, the photography of the works of art. During the projects Wrapped Reichstag, Wrapped Trees and the installation The Wall, he was technical director for the realization of the works of art. This close collaboration has resulted in many books and more than 300 exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world. Wolfgang Volz and his wife and partner Sylvia Volz live and work in Dusseldorf. Source: Christo And Jeanne-Claude (Taschen Basic Art)a Christo and Jeanne-Claude moved with their four-year-old son Cyril to New York in 1964. Source: Christo And Jeanne-Claude (Taschen Basic Art)a Wrapping historic structures in silvery fabric and blue cable has become a famous tradition for Christo and Jeanne-Claude: landscape projects in the USA, Japan, and Australia and urban projects such as the Pont Neuf in Paris have established them as the most extraordinary artist couple of the age. Source: Christo And Jeanne-Claude (Taschen Basic Art) Shop our selection of artworks by Christo and Jeanne-Claude online.