{"data":{"id":"262","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":262,"topgoose_id":2578,"tms_id":262,"display_name":"Christo","sort_name":"Christo","display_date":"1935–2020","begin_date":"1935","end_date":"2020","biography":"\u003cp\u003eBorn in Bulgaria, Christo (Javacheff)\nstudied fine art in Sofia and then briefly\nin Prague and Vienna before moving\nto Paris, where he would meet his wife\nand longtime collaborator, Jeanne-Claude\n(Denat de Guillebon), in 1958. Rejecting\nthe theoretical emphases of then-current\nabstraction for an art grounded in real\nobjects, Christo began to wrap everyday\nitems such as tin cans and furniture\nin cloth and string, and later in translucent\nplastic.\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/472\"\u003e\u003cem\u003ePackage on Hand Truck\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e replaces\nthe pedestal of traditional, static sculpture\nwith an ordinary upright moving dolly.\nDespite the commonplace materials it\nuses—tarpaulin and rope—the work\nstrikes a mysterious note, as the contents\nunder wraps remain forever unknown.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor Christo and Jeanne-Claude,\nthe act of wrapping became an undertaking\nof monumental scale and scope, and\nfor nearly four decades they staged large,\nsite-specific, temporary interventions\nin both natural and built environments.\nThey wrapped islands, coastlines,\nand architectural landmarks (including the\nPont Neuf in Paris and the Reichstag\nin Berlin) and installed fences, curtains,\nand umbrellas in various locations\nall over the world. These bureaucratically\nand logistically complex projects, often\nyears in the making, were conceived\nand visualized in preparatory drawings\nand collages made by Christo. \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/22792\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Gates,\nProject for Central Park, New York City\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\nanticipates one of the pair’s most ambitious\nefforts: the installation, for sixteen days\nin February 2005, of seventy-five hundred\nsquare gateways, each sixteen feet\ntall and hung with saffron-colored nylon\npanels, spread over twenty-three\nmiles of footpaths in Central Park. First\nconceived in 1979, \u003cem\u003eThe Gates \u003c/em\u003ewas a\nmassive endeavor; the collage reveals the\nengineering intricacies of a single\ngate as well as the extent to which gates\nblanketed the park.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500115266","wikidata_id":"Q14633979","created_at":"2017-08-30T17:27:33.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-30T07:04:17.372-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/262/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/262/exhibitions"}}}}