 | Few contemporary artists have achieved the long-running fame of the New York artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Their audacious collaborations — often years in the making and constructed on a massive scale — have captured the public imagination. Such projects as the wrapping of the Reichstag and Pont Neuf in Europe, or the erection of the Valley Curtain and the Running Fence in the American West, have produced startling images of the familiar transformed. The most recent Christo and Jeanne-Claude installation, the Gates in Central Park, inspired legions of globe-trotting fans to descend on New York in mid-winter to witness the spectacle of 7,500 bright nylon panels suspended above 25 miles of paths. After years of planning, the entire installation was in place for a mere sixteen days. KUOW art critic Gary Faigin joined the migration, and he’s here with his reactions. |
