* *Christo is an artist who is into wrapping things.
He has wrapped seacoasts and inlets, an ancient Roman wall and the Pont Neuf in Paris.
Not wrapped, but still pretty incredible was his "Valley Curtain" in
Rifle, Colorado, which had 200,000 square feet of orange, woven, nylon
fabric strung across the valley's 1,313-foot width.
But perhaps even
more incredible was his "Running Fence," 18 feet high and
24 1/2 miles long, which stretched across the hills north of San
Francisco and, perhaps from its own inspired momentum, ran even into the
Pacific Ocean. This work of art involved
landowners, engineers, and municipalities--not to mention the workers
who finally installed it.
And, while the works themselves no longer exist, films and videos do: Christo's Valley Curtain and Running Fence both by the Maysles Brothers. There's also a book: Christo by Marina Vaizey and published by Rizzoli. And Christo also has an online presence.
But, as I was saying, before explanation and enthusiasm broke in, Christo likes to wrap things. So, imagine my amusement when The Carnegie undertook a repainting of its Hall of Architecture and unwittingly transformed high art into modern art--through the use of just a few drop cloths and some duct tape. For your delectation, here are some Polaroids of charmingly-wrapped plaster casts of some painfully familiar works of art.
Victory
Augustus
Discus
Athena
