Behind the wrapping.Byline: Bob Keefer The Register-Guard PORTLAND - The first thing Christo and his wife, Jeanne-Claude, would like you to know is, they are not just artists who wrap things. "The media think everything we do is wrapping!" complains Jeanne-Claude, who is also Christo's collaborator and soul-mate. "Please emphasize to your readers we are not the wrapping artists!" In the course of their four-decade artistic career together, this creative couple has also made long fabric fences and planted huge and abstract umbrellas on the Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, and Japanese landscapes. They've made art from stacked oil barrels. Along the way Christo has become one of the most famous living artists in the world. Early next year they will erect e·rect adj. 1. Being in or having a vertical, upright position. 2. Being in or having a stiff, rigid physiological condition. a series of 7,500 gates hung with fabric around New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of City's Central Park. So they don't just wrap things. But it is also true that much of the world hears the name Christo and thinks immediately of wrapping, for he and she have sometimes wrapped very big things - the Reichstag building The Reichstag building in Berlin was constructed to house the Reichstag, the original parliament of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Reichstag until 1933. in Berlin, say, in 1995, or the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 1969 - in an expression of their unusual and playful play·ful adj. 1. Full of fun and high spirits; frolicsome or sportive: a playful kitten. 2. environmental art. Christo and Jeanne-Claude Christo (born Hristo Yavashev, Bulgarian: Христо Явашев) and Jeanne-Claude (born Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon) are a married couple who create environmental installation art. were in Portland this weekend for the opening of a show at the Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum (PAM) in Portland, Oregon, United States, was founded in the last days of 1892, making it the oldest art museum in the Pacific Northwest. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, Portland Art Museum became one of the twenty-five largest art museums in about their 10-year project, from 1975 to 1985, to wrap the Pont Neuf The Pont Neuf, oddly enough, is the oldest standing bridge across the river Seine in Paris. Its name— the "new bridge"— which distinguished it from the old bridges that were lined on both sides with houses, simply stuck. , a 4-century-old bridge at the heart of Paris. "We wanted to do something deeply related to culture," Christo explains about the Pont Neuf. "So we tried to find a landmark deeply related to art. Curiously enough the Pont Neuf is the most painted object in the history of art." Like his wife, Christo is 69 years old. They were born an hour apart, they tell you, on June 13, 1935. He is thin, dark haired and intense, and talks in measured, careful sentences. She has hair that's nearly punk punk Aggressive form of rock music that coalesced into an international (though predominantly Anglo-American) movement in 1975–80. Originating in the countercultural rock of artists such as the Velvet Underground and Iggy (Pop) and the Stooges, punk rock evolved in in its redness and is constantly correcting his minor fumbles in English. They have lived at the same address in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. for 40 years. "We met in 1958 in Paris," Jeanne-Claude explains. "Because in 1958 a young Bulgarian refugee name Christo Javacheff had to pay his rent and had to eat. And he couldn't sell his early works, his wrapped objects and packages. He was washing dishes to make money. That was his second job. And he had a third job - painting oil portraits, which he signed `Javacheff.' ' Christo had studied art in Bulgaria and later in Vienna. He knew how to draw and paint. "One day," Jeanne-Claude continues, "he came to paint my mother's portrait. He completed her classical portrait. Then he completed her impressionist portrait. Then he completed her cubist portrait. By then we were in love." Christo and Jeanne-Claude say they have worked together on all the projects that, for many years, were presented to the public in his name only. In 1993 they decided to add her name to the credit line. Their art is like little else the world has seen. The word "artist" hardly seems to cover all that they do. They are more like movie directors or producers, turning unusual visions into enormous temporary events that cut across time, geography, vision, culture and politics. The cost can be extraordinary. Wrapping the Pont Neuf cost $3.5 million. Putting up those umbrellas in California and Japan cost $26 million. As they do on all their projects, Christo and Jeanne-Claude footed the bills themselves, generating money by selling early sketches and plans of the project along the way. They have a Swiss warehouse full of material from their 18 completed projects; they use it as collateral for bank loans. They are, in fact, almost brittle (jargon) brittle - Said of software that is functional but easily broken by changes in operating environment or configuration, or by any minor tweak to the software itself. Also, any system that responds inappropriately and disastrously to abnormal but expected external stimuli; e. in their independence. They don't take grants. They don't accept commissions. They don't use volunteer labor. They won't even consider doing other people's ideas. "The best way to kill a project is to propose it to us," Jeanne-Claude says. "You would never marry someone your mother proposes to you, would you?" The Portland exhibit opens with mural-sized color photographs of the completed Pont Neuf project, surrounding a large and elegant scale model of the wrapped bridge. From there you plunge into the dark heart of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's art: the sometimes difficult process of obtaining permission (think French bureaucracy) to do the things they do. Photographs of meetings with French officials are displayed next to many, many letters. More gratifying grat·i·fy tr.v. grat·i·fied, grat·i·fy·ing, grat·i·fies 1. To please or satisfy: His achievement gratified his father. See Synonyms at please. 2. to see are actual pieces of the structure that held the wrapping on the Pont Neuf, along with Christo's ever-evolving plans for the project. Because it's a cultural landmark, the bridge had to be treated with kid gloves kid gloves Noun, pl handle someone with kid gloves to treat someone with great tact in order not to upset them kid gloves npl to treat sb with kid gloves → , almost literally. Metal supports for the thousands of yards of fabric are padded with rubber feet, so as not to mar the stone. Alpine ALPINE Antihypertensive Treatment and Lipid Profile in a North of Sweden Efficacy Evaluation (drug trial) ALPINE Advanced Logistics Program Integration and Engineering climbers This list of climbers includes both mountaineers and rock climbers, since many (though not all) climbers engage in both types of activities. The list also includes boulderers and ice climbers. hired to scale the bridge and hang the fabric wore socks over their boots to prevent smudges. Some statistics: The project used 450,000 square feet of fabric, 43,900 feet of rope, 12.1 tons of steel chain, 5,500 yards of steel cables, 88 tons of concrete ballast bal·last n. 1. Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship or the gondola of a balloon to enhance stability. 2. a. Coarse gravel or crushed rock laid to form a bed for roads or railroads. b. and 13.2 tons of steel framework. About 400 people were hired to create the wrapping and to wrap the bridge; another 660 monitored the work until the fabric was removed. The wrapping was completed on Sept. 22, 1985, and stayed on view for only two weeks. That very ephemerality e·phem·er·al adj. 1. Lasting for a markedly brief time: "There remain some truths too ephemeral to be captured in the cold pages of a court transcript" Irving R. Kaufman. is essential to Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work. "Nothing is permanent on this planet. Absolutely nothing," Jeanne-Claude says. "Our works are very fragile," Christo says. "There is a nomadic See nomadic computing. quality to our projects. In a matter of a few days, a whole site is transformed. And when it is over it will never be there again." Jeanne-Claude explains it this way. Artists over the centuries have used many different qualities to express their vision. "But there is one quality they have never used - and that is the quality of love and tenderness that we human beings have for that which will be lost." "We love that expression, `Once in a lifetime,' ' Christo says. "And we enjoy the words, `Once upon a time,' ' his wife echoes. EXHIBIT PREVIEW The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris, 1975-85: A Documentation Exhibit What: Drawings, photographs and materials from Christo and Jeanne-Claude's wrapping of a 400-year-old Paris bridge in 1985. Where: Portland Art Museum, 1219 S.W. Park Ave., Portland. When: Through Jan. 2. Admission: Adults $10; seniors and students $8; ages 5 through 18 $6; age 4 and under free. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, but also open until 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday and from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. CAPTION(S): The Portland exhibit includes drawings of Christo's evolving plans for wrapping the 400-year-old Paris landmark, Pont Neuf - and photos of the completed project (below). Portland Art Museum This photo, part of the Portland exhibition, shows the Port Neuf in Paris wrapped in fabric during two weeks in 1985. ``There is a nomadic quality to our projects ... when it is over it will never be there again.'' - CHRISTO, KNOWN FOR HIS ENVIRONMENTAL ARTWORK, SUCH AS WRAPPINGS |
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