Posted on April 17th, 2010 in Contemporary Art Issues & Images
Tuesday, April 13th, Christo spoke at Memminger Auditorium (here in Charleston) about his and Jeanne-Claude’s past and future projects, most notably Over the River, which will span 14 miles of the Arkansas River. In his lecture, he outlined the rigorous trials he and Jeanne-Claude and their team of engineers underwent to ensure the successful completion of their past projects. For instance, they built 17 of the “Gates” in their engineer’s yard near Seattle, Washington to test colors for the fabrics. He said they knew they wanted a warm color, but the exact shade had to be determined at full scale and over months in order to see the color in different lighting situations. For Over the River, the engineers have had to work out many details to allow for wind, the twists and turns of the river, and other environmental factors. Christo categorized his and Jeanne-Claude’s work as urban projects and rural projects: of course, there are different issues they must consider in each of these categories. The urban projects, like the wrapping of the Reichstag or the wrapping of the Pont-Neuf, usually involve an architectural landmark. Christo studied architecture as an art student at the National Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria, which is a traditional academy with an art curriculum that combines studies of painting, sculpture, drawing, and architecture. Christo’s academic background was news to me. Also, he seemed very appreciative of his early traditional art training that his parents gave him; they hired an art tutor for him as a boy at age 6. He referenced many early art historical works as an influence on his artistic output. I found his reference to drapery studies particularly intersting. In the Question and Answer period after the talk, someone asked about his influences, and Christo discussed at length the character of drapery in various periods of art history. He mentioned the angular folds found in Gothic works versus the voluptuousness of Bernini’s folds , for instance. 
The images above are drawings by Christo. He does all his work by hand by himself, without the help of studio assistants. Despite the collaborative nature of his and Jean-Claude’s work, he seemed very much the Romantic individualistic artist. In addition to the studio work – which is self contained and which funds the lrge scale projects – he also mentioned that the primary consideration for each project was not any audience other than himself and Jeanne-Claude. They did what they did, where they did it, because they wanted to see it. Christo spoke very much about Jeanne-Claude, almost as though she was still alive and still his partner in his artistic endeavors. Of course, the current project, Over the River, is something that began years ago, and she did indeed collaborate on it. 
