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CHRISTO.
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Life, career, major works & post-modernism of massive environmental works.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Life, career, major works & post-modernism of massive environmental works.
Paper Introduction:
Christo is a representative of the post-modern era in art, bringing together several of the elements of that era, including the use of public space as art, using and commenting on technology, finding new relations between the personal and the public, and so on. Christo has crated massive works which have also captured a good deal of publicity, making him one of the better known artists of the time, though some of the publicity has been negative, as when a woman was killed by one of the umbrellas Christo had placed in a field in California.
Modernism and postmodernism are forces that have been in competition but that are also part of a flow in the same direction, a flow of artistic movement yearning toward change within a technological age. Modernism was part of an effort to create a new environment to replace the old around the turn of
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Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1995.Vaizey, Marina. The Umbrellas, Japan-USA, 1984-91: "has to do with urban planning" (Christo & Jeanne-Claude).They see their work as more like architecture than it is like other artsand note why when they write, Once the work of art has been read for what it really is, then the process preceding the completion is easily understood. Their art therefore is the result of intelligence and aesthetic intuition added to the natural and built environment (Elsen). Christo. Since these pieces require the participation of cities,states, countries, and various governmental bodies at various levels, theyusually require years of negotiation for permission and for the right tomake "enormous temporary structures and wrappings": Christo has to convince an audience before he can make the work of art. Munich: Prestel, 1993.Blank, Peter. "The Real and the Revealed." Stanford University, 1998, http://prelectur.stanford.edu/ lecturers/christo/bond.html.Christo & Jeanne-Claude. It is in the populist nature of his thinking that he believes people should have intense and memorable experiences of art outside museums (Albert Elsen quoted by Baal-Teshuva 1). It is as though both architect and client had to convince all sectors of the public, not just the professional planners and authorities, of the aesthetic worth and interest of the project before beginning to realize the work off the drawing board and into three-dimensional actuality (Vaizey 7). Vaizey further notes that Christo has essentially created a new artform and new ways of making art. Modernism was based on acertain disjointed sense of time and was a deliberate departure from theconventions of realism. His art comments on the environment in which it isplaced: They point out the varied, amazing, subtle and dramatic beauties of city and country, wilderness and cultivated farm and park, sea and coast, and they are beautiful in themselves. The works are not only collaborations, they are anenormous commitment of time which is also part of the artwork itself: The considerable activity which precedes the installation of a piece is as much a part of a particular work as the actual installation. "The Freedom to Be Christo and Jeanne-Claude." Stanford University, 1998, http://prelectur.stanford.edu/ lecturers/christo/elsen.html.Fineberg, Jonathan. The term postmodernism has been applied to culture after 196 .Certain modernist characteristics can be discerned in post-196 culture, sothe two periods are not completely distinct. They describe several oftheir works more specifically: ? Hestudied at the Fine Arts Academy in Sofia from 1952 to 1956 and then movedto Prague in 1956. The application of theseideas to public space in particular shows some of the important dynamics atwork in the movement the term describes, and such efforts were used toextend the meaning of public spaces directly to society as a whole,attempting to alter the way we think of ourselves in relation to ourexternal, public environment in keeping with the other changes taking placein human thought and attitude. A Christo work is by nature collaborative in the construction phaseat least, but more and more Christo wishes to be seen as part of anartistic collaboration with his wife, artist Jeanne-Claude, so much so thathe asked that a recent reprinting of an article about him be changed sothat every reference to "Christo" be changed to "Jeanne-Claude and Christo"(Bond). No causes are pleaded. The projects are their own reason for being, but in the late twentieth century they are also tributes to artistic freedom. Christo. If he is not part of a movement, he creates his ownmovement by his approach: Christo embarks on each project by talking to people about it and by showing them drawings and collages in which he has convincingly visualized it (Fineberg 35 ).Christo's method creates a political statement in itself as he brings indifferent people and heeds their views even as the fact of his projectcreates a political movement around the work before the work exists. It took twenty-four years before the Reichstag could be wrapped, seven years to organize The Umbrellas, ten years to plan The Pont Neuf Wrapped, and three years for the Surrounded Islands in Biscayne Bay. Numerous books and videos have documented the remarkable succession of zoning board hearings, public forums, parliamentary debates, public and private meetings, legal releases and contract negotiations, press conferences, materials' tests, drawings, collages, exhibitions, as well as the enormous effort and teamwork required for the actual installations (Blank). The Christos offer their own description and analysis of their workswhen they write, "The temporary large-scale environmental works (both urbanand rural environments) have elements of painting, sculpture, architectureand urban planning" (Christo & Jeanne-Claude). The Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida, 198 -83: "could be seen as giant flat paintings (shaped canvases)" ? He continued working on a number of projects inEurope for the next several years before establishing a permanent residencein New York in 1964 (Vaizey 18). These pieces have been created and "placed" in cities from Chicago toMilan and Paris, in the countryside and in communities from California, NewEngland, Florida, and Japan. In 1958, Christo arrived in Paris and produced and packagedhis work Wrapped Objects. Christo presents a particular case of an artist whose form ofexpression is individual but who can be seen as part of larger movementsoutside the art world as well as some within, for Christo is an overtlypolitical artist desirous of challenging certain accepted ideas in society. Christo has used his art to make a political statement as well: His art relies on the use of his subtle political insight, empowered by the sheer visual beauty of his projects, to engage the public en masse in a critical debate on values (Fineberg 35 ).Christo consciously employs methods that enlist the participation of theviewer directly in a dialogue over the meaning of art and the meaning ofpolitical action. New York: Rizzoli, 199 .----------------------- 9 Christo and Jeanne-Claude confront what does exist with what they alone have determined can exist as a dramatic and beautiful form. He studied for one semester in 1957 at the Vienna FineArts Academy. The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris, 1975-85: "could be seen as a very large sculpture, in a traditional sense of antique folds and draperies, however the bridge, while wrapped, remained a bridge, a piece of architecture" ? A Christo is both a part of the world, and apart from it (Vaizey 8). Modernism and postmodernism are forces that have been in competitionbut that are also part of a flow in the same direction, a flow of artisticmovement yearning toward change within a technological age. Modernism waspart of an effort to create a new environment to replace the old around theturn of the century, following in the wake of similar changes in political,social, literary, and other spheres of society. But architecture and urban planning are always discussed before completion. Christo has crated massiveworks which have also captured a good deal of publicity, making him one ofthe better known artists of the time, though some of the publicity has beennegative, as when a woman was killed by one of the umbrellas Christo hadplaced in a field in California. . Art Since 194 . Nobody discusses a painting before it has been painted. The work of Christo is post-modern in the way it avoidsinterpretation and seeks a visceral response from the viewer, achieving apolitical thematic meaning without being overtly political, yet requiringthe political for the work to exist at all. He has been the beneficiary of the student-worker revolt in France in May1968 in which art representing the ancien régime was defaced as a politicalstatement. "Christo and Jeanne-Claude at the Reichstag." Stanford University, 1998, http://prelectur.stanford.edu/ lecturers/christo.Bond, Anthony. Christo is both architect and client in one . The works of Christo also show the artisttaking risks. Christo was born Christo Javacheff in 1935 in Gabrovo, Bulgaria. We can see that each successivemovement in art builds on the what exists at the time, extending it, takingit in a new direction, or rejecting it outright and striking off in a newway. At the same time, she finds acontradiction in that while he is the most accessible of artists, hisinspiration is unclear. The two met in 1958 in Paris when Christo was commissioned topaint a portrait of Jeanne-Claude's mother, and they have collaboratedsince that time. . Postmodernity was a reaction to modernityas modernity was a reaction to what went before, but again a new way ofviewing the world and our relationship to it were produced in terms oftechnological changes and possibilities. People discuss the possibility of a new bridge, a new highway, a new airport before those are built (Christo & Jeanne-Claude).Elsen offers his own assessment of the meaning of their work when he notesthat they involve intense experiences for the viewer: They do not satisfy our practical needs. Thelocation for Christo's works also brings his art into proximity with themasses in a way that is unusual: Christo's art is the creation of beautiful, temporary objects on a vast scale for specific outdoor sites. "How to Read the Art Works." Stanford University, 1998, http://prelecteur.stanford.edu/lecturers/ christo/christo.html.Elsen, Albert. Vaizey describes these pieces wellwhen she writes, They are huge pieces which paradoxically appear delicate, evanescent, and even though made of the materials of the technological age--plastics and metals--with an enormous input of creative and intuitive engineering on the part of the artist and the professionals who work with him, are exquisite, apparently inevitable interventions in the "real" world (Vaizey 7). They are often political statements, but they also requireconsiderable political activity on the part of the artist before they caneven be created. Christo is a representative of the post-modern era in art, bringingtogether several of the elements of that era, including the use of publicspace as art, using and commenting on technology, finding new relationsbetween the personal and the public, and so on. Modernism used a number of complex new forms andstyles that were to give new meaning to design, to present aspects of theworld in a different way, and to create new relationships between elementsin the landscape. Works CitedBaal-Teshuva, Jacob. From 1958 to the present, Christo has produced works of art which aremassive, delicate, beautiful, and vast.
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