Christo (1935– )

Bulgarian-born US sculptor. Considered a leading figure in Land art, he uses the natural and built environment as his canvas, and strives to find the relationship between nature and art. He is known for his ‘packages’: structures, such as bridges and buildings, and even areas of coastline, temporarily wrapped in synthetic fabric tied down with rope.

His ambitious Running Fence (1976), installed across several miles of open country in California, was a typically ephemeral work. In 1991 he mounted a simultaneous project, Umbrellas, in which a series of enormous umbrellas were erected across valleys in both the USA and Japan.

In his Wrapped Reichstag (June–July 1995), the German former government building was temporarily wrapped in 93,000 sq m/1 million sq ft of silver fabric secured by 15,500 m/49,000 ft of blue rope. The project had won government approval in February 1994 after a 20-year campaign by the artist.

Christo was born in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, and studied painting, sculpture, and stage design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, and at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. He was active in Paris in the 1950s and moved to New York in 1964. He packaged his first building, the Berner Kunsthalle, in 1968, and continued to produce large-scale packaging throughout the 1970s.

Running Fence, constructed from nylon panels fastened to steel poles, was 6 m/20 ft high and 38 km/24 mi long. The work was erected at a cost of US$2 million, raised through the sale of his drawings and designs. After taking two years to plan and obtain the necessary permits, and six months to build, the fence only stayed up for 14 days. As with most of his work, the entire process was made into a fascinating documentary and, although it was only up for a limited period, the media attention secured Running Fence a place in the history books. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s Christo continued to complete challenging projects, such as the Wrapped Reichstag, Surrounded Islands (1983), and Umbrellas (1991; blue in Japan and yellow in the USA).