Christo
Christo
Christo Vladimirov Javacheff and Jeanne-Claude were a married couple who created environmental works of art. 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. They then fell in love through creating art work together...
NationalityBulgarian
ProfessionPainter
Date of Birth13 June 1935
CountryBulgaria
beaches brought condition exception original remove surrounded tons workers
The other exception where we did not at all restore the place to its original condition is the Surrounded Islands. Before we installed our fabric, we had our workers remove 42 tons of garbage off the beaches of those islands. We never brought the garbage back.
beauty involves meet
And for me, the real world involves everything: risk, danger, beauty, energy, all we meet with in the real world.
lots
You see, we are not machines and we do not have lots of ideas in a drawer.
art created floor indoor inside monumental museum wrapped
We have created indoor installations inside museums, like the Wrapped Floor at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 1968, and not monumental at all by any standards.
collages drawings takes vague
And for every project, because it takes years, you can see the early drawings and collages as just a simple, vague idea, and through the years and through the negotiations of getting the permit, you see that every detail is now clarified.
advance project projects understand unique work
It's very important to understand that we never do the same thing twice; each of our projects is unique. We'll never do another 'Gates.' Each project is a unique image. We do not know in advance how the work will look. I do preparatory drawings, but they are only projections of our vision.
arrived lower manhattan proposal skyline wrap york
In 1964, when we first arrived in New York City, I remember vividly seeing the skyline of Manhattan, and our first proposal of 1964 was to wrap two lower Manhattan buildings. We never got permission.
appears monumental
It appears to be monumental only because it's art.
projects
All our projects are like fabulous expeditions. The story of each project is unique. Our projects have no precedent.
cold europe germany giant muscle presence throughout war
Germany is an economic giant but a political midget, and with the end of the Cold War she has started to muscle her presence throughout Europe and the world.
afraid allow art beings convince create days fact human therefore work
Therefore we have to go over the fact that all human beings are afraid by what is new. It is our work to convince them that they will enjoy it, and even if they don't, to allow us just for 14 days to create that work of art.
people work
Every artist in the world likes his or her work to make people think.
royalties
Because we do not sell photographs, we have no royalties on books, posters, postcards.
art beings bigger build giant highways human monumental people thousands work
People think our work is monumental because it's art, but human beings do much bigger things: they build giant airports, highways for thousands of miles, much, much bigger than what we create.