Christo, Surrounded Islands

Christo Javacheff, known artistically only by his first name, once formed part of the artistic duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude who are famed for their monumental installations. Working most often with fabric or plastic, their major projects include wrapping the Reichstag in Berlin, the Pont Neuf in Paris, and Little Bay in Sydney. Their projects explore the relationship between the man made and the natural. As artists, the pair focused on the aesthetic impact of their projects as a means to create new ways of seeing something familiar. By dramatically altering the sites where they worked, the artists created new experiences for their audiences. At the conclusion of a project, all that is left of them are the preparatory drawings and sketches. Of the ephemerality of this process Christo said: “I think it takes much greater courage to create things to be gone than to create things that will remain.” His collaborations with Jeanne-Claude stand as the greatest achievements of Christo’s career. Since her passing in 2009, Christo has continued with various projects which they began in her lifetime, including the installation of Mastaba in London’s Hyde Park in 2018. Bulgarian, b. 1935, Gabrovo, Bulgaria. Based in New York.

Christo, Surrounded Islands