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Christo
and Jeanne-Claude: Gentle Disturbances Recently, we attended a lecture given by the collaborative artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, CA. As part of a series sponsored by the San Jose Museum of Art's "Surroundings" exhibit, this particular lecture featured an overview of their work and a question and answer period.
The two artists are best known for their site specific installations that wrap an architectural monument: The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris, 1975-85, September 1985, Wrapped Reichstag, Project for Berlin, 1971-95, June 1995. Or, redefine a landscape:
Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California 1972-76,
September 1976, Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami
Florida, 1980-83, May 1983, and The Umbrellas, Japan-USA,
1984-91, October 1991.
These were all enormous
projects in terms of scale, cost and planning. Sometimes it can
take years for the artists to obtain the required permits to carry
out their plans. The permit process often requires extensive environmental
studies, costing millions of dollars. Avoiding words like "red
tape" or "bureaucracy", Christo and Jeanne-Claude
simply call their quest to get a project approved as "process."
Perhaps what is most amazing is that the artists pay for all the
materials themselves. They never accept grants or donations to
support their art ventures. Refusing such financial assistance
assures their artistic freedom. This approach is all the more
incredible when we learned that the cost for the Umbrella project
alone was $26,000,000.!
In order to pay for these artworks, Christo makes drawings, scale-models and preparatory studies and sells them to the public and collectors through art dealers. And when they have earned enough money, they begin to execute their project. Jeanne-Claude described their philosophy to "create works of art of joy and beauty." There is no purpose whatsoever she says, "it's just a work of art." But if you are familiar with their work, you will know that there is far more to their art. Because their works disrupt large buildings or vast landscapes, the artists insist that the viewer perceive his environment differently. Christo calls these disruptions to our surroundings as "gentle disturbances." The resulting effect has been described as magical. By wrapping or surrounding, the artists have now re-created an environment that at times even surprises the artists themselves. A good example is Running
Fence that traversed over twenty miles through portions of
Marin and Sonoma counties in 1976. Although all segments of the
fabric was the same, the qualities of the fabric would be altered
according to the changing light and shadow. At times the sun's
changing position would create a luminous quality to the fence.
And as the wind blew, the fabric would create an ethereal sound
in the otherwise quiet landscape. These elements of environmental
chance would not have been able to be controlled by the artists.
Jeanne-Claude said
that during their entire artistic career the most difficult part
of every project is getting permission and the appropriate permits
to carry out their projects. Take a second look at the dates of
each artwork above and you will see how long each project can
take from conception to completion. The longest project, Wrapped
Reichstag, for example, took 23 years to complete. This degree
of persistence is underscored by the fact that each project only
lasts 14 days. After that, the project is disassembled and all
the materials are recycled.
Currently, Christo
and Jeanne-Claude have two projects planned, but are still going
through the permit process: The Gates, Project for Central
Park, New York City and Over the River, Project for the
Arkansas River, Colorado. We don't know where the artists
find their endless energy, but we are indebted to their ongoing
commitment to creating some of the most innovative and imaginative
art.
For more information about Christo and Jeanne-Claude, please visit their web site at http://christojeanneclaude.net/index.html |
