WASHINGTON D.C.—The environmental artist Christo swung through this city last week, but not to wrap the National Gallery of Art in orange fabric. Instead he came to celebrate the U.S. government’s green light on his project to suspend 5.9 miles of silvery fabric over the Arkansas River in Colorado.
On November 7, the U.S. Interior Department approved his “Over the River” project. The next day, Christo appeared at a National Gallery press conference to give it two collages that visually describe the project. He has had the idea since 1992.Christo’s gift to the National Gallery is not really the newest thing. The newest thing is the federal involvement. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management oversees the river land in question. Thus, this was the first time it did an environmental impact study for a work of art. In the end, the federal and state agencies have agreed that the undertaking would not harm the wildlife and ecology of the river area. For its two-week run in August 2012, “Over The River” could generate $121 million in revenue (mostly tourist). It could also boost south-central Colorado—already a recreational favorite—and the state’s modern art scene.
Obviously, Christo is grateful. After losing his devoted wife, Jeanne-Claude, 74, to illness last year, the 75-year-old Christo is now on his own (though surrounded by his usual team of professionals). This week, Christo was in the United Arab Emirates continuing his decades-long effort to win approval for stacking 410,000 color-painted oil barrels in the desert. Desert monuments notwithstanding, Colorado may end up being his last great project. At $50 million, it is one of his most expensive.
In their revolutionizing of “public art,” Christo and Jeanne-Claude have created some of the largest pieces on record. They have waged some of the longest and friendliest battles with civic official—ranging from 20 to 40 years—to gain permission to unleash their giant fabric scenarios in Paris, Berlin, Miami, and New York City.
Their real novelty, however, is their system. Once Christo became famous enough, he could sell sketches of his ideas to collectors. With tens of millions in sales, he paid for his outdoor projects himself. The projects, while taking months or years to install, bloomed as a few weeks of “experience” for viewers. “I don’t have any artworks that exist,” Christo once said. “They all go away when they’re finished. Only the preparatory drawings and collages are left, giving my works an almost legendary character.”
It’s a remarkable art strategy that has served Christo and Jeanne-Claude well for their exemplary life together. A Bulgarian-born artist, Christo met Jean-Claude in her native France. In 1962 Paris, Christo’s first project was to pile barrels to block a street. It was a protest against the Berlin Wall. When the police came to stop him, they agreed to let the barrel-wall stand a few hours. That was the beginning.
After the couple moved to New York, they decided their public art would no longer be a protest message. They decided that art is for beauty alone. “The artists’ goal has always been to create works of art of joy and beauty,” says their website. That is why they have succeeded against other odds. Some of their projects, like wrapping Paris’s oldest bridge and the Reichstag, or erecting giant blue and yellow umbrellas in California and Japan, have drawn millions of viewers. People do like joy and beauty. Politicians and zoning officials usually give in.
In Colorado, the beauty debate has been waged. Opponent groups such as “Rags Over the Arkansas River” see Christo as a celebrity who gets his way, imposing his artistic vision on locals who don’t want three years of construction hubbub for a two-week art show. Christo’s vision of beauty won out (with a few minor permits to be had). The eight sections of see-through silver fabric, totaling six miles of stretched ceiling over 42 miles of river, will have this effect, according to Christo:
“The translucent fabric will enhance the contrast of the clouds, mountains and vegetation. These waves of fabric will play off the natural lighting throughout the day, transitioning from shimmering pink in the morning light, to shiny silver in the mid-day sun, to golden as the sun sets. From the water level, the rafters, kayakers and canoeists on the Arkansas River will view blue sky, white cloud formations and the undulating mountain skyline through the fabric. Cars and buses on Highway 50 will also get a unique view of Over The River from the roadway, where the fabric will reflect the colors of the sky while moving with the wind like waves in the ocean.”
Spoken like an artist. Most of what comes now is engineering. The longest part will be determining countless spots along the river banks to sink anchors for stretching steel cables. Then a few weeks before the opening (August 2014), six miles of fabric will be unfurled. Two weeks of enjoyment follow. Hopefully, wildlife will not have been scared away, and unexpected storms will not collapse the fabric. Next comes a few months of clean-up to restore the area to its pristine state.
As in past cases, members of Colorado's stop-Christo faction may change their minds when it’s all over, if all goes well. And as Christo promises, nothing should remain but the legend.
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