Fabric becomes sculpture, form becomes a canvas and an informer. A call for stillness on the plane. Suggestive echoes exist between colors. The remainder of something transient.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude exacted their dreams of large-scale art integrated into monumental landscapes with gestures such as wrapping Pont Neuf bridge in France; a twenty-five mile white nylon fence running through California; and a bright orange fabric curtain suspended between two Colorado mountain slopes. They longed for fabric to act out its own weight to dispel and ignite myths. A scale beyond their own created bold magnitude within elected environments. Harnessed and pinned, sheets of fabric suffused gradient planes and modern archways of stone.

Words by Brit Parks

Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California, 1972-76. Photo: Wolfgang Volz. 

Christo. Running Fence (Project for Marin County and Sonoma County, State of California). Drawing in two parts. Pencil, charcoal, elevation profile blueprint and technical data, 1976.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Valley Curtain, Rifle, Colorado, 1970-72. Photo: Wolfgang Volz.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida, 1980-83. Photo: Wolfgang Volz.


Christo. Packed Coast (Project for Little Bay, New South Wales Australia), Collage, 1969. Pencil, fabric, wax crayon, rope, twine, photograph, aerial photograph, tracing paper, fabric sample, tape and staples. 28 x 22".

Christo directing work at Wrapped Coast, 1969. Photo: Harry Shunk. 

Jeanne-Claude during the installation of Running Fence,1976. Photo: Wolfgang Volz.