Christo, renowned artist known for monumental public works, dies at 84

Christo was known for massive, ephemeral public arts projects, including a 2.4km wrap of Sydney’s coast in 1969.

Bulgarian artist Christo poses in front of the monumental ‘Mastaba’ art work in 2016. Picture: AFP

Christo, known for massive, ephemeral public arts projects has died at his home in New York. He was 84.

His death on Sunday was announced on Twitter and the artist’s web page. No cause of death was given.

Along with late wife Jeanne-Claude, the artists’ careers were defined by their ambitious art projects that quickly disappeared soon after they were erected.

Surrounded Islands by Christo in Miami. Picture: AP

In 2005, he installed more than 7500 vinyl gates in New York’s Central Park and wrapped the Reichstag in Berlin in fabric with an aluminium sheen in 1995. Their $26 million ($39m) Umbrellas project erected 1340 blue umbrellas installed in Japan and 1760 blue umbrellas in Southern California in 1991. The statement said the artist’s next project, L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, is slated to appear in September in Paris as planned.

An exhibition about Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work is also scheduled to run from July through October at the Centre Georges Pompidou.

In 1969, Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped 2.4km of sandstone coastline at Little Bay, Sydney.

Christo at Sydney’s Little Bay in 1969. Picture: Harry Shunk

“Christo lived his life to the fullest, not only dreaming up what seemed impossible but realising it,” his office said in a statement. “Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s artwork brought people together in shared experiences across the globe, and their work lives on in our hearts and memories.”

Wrapped Coast, at Sydney’s Little Bay. Picture: © J. Paul Getty Trust.

Born in Bulgaria in 1935, Christo Vladimirov Javacheff studied at the Fine Arts Academy in Sofia before moving to Prague in 1957, then Vienna, then Geneva. It was in Paris in 1958 where he met Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon. They were born on the same day (June 13) in the same year (1935), and, according to him, “In the same moment” and would become partners in life and art. Christo was already wrapping smaller found objects, like cars and furniture.

A man on top of remains of the Berlin Wall looks at the wrapped Reichstag building, a project titled Wrapped Reichstag in 1995. Picture: AP

After he met Jeanne-Claude, their scale broadened. Within three years they were working together on an installation of oil drums and tarp on the docks in Cologne.

Although their large scale outdoor and indoor projects were collaborative, they were all credited solely to Christo until 1994, when they revealed Jeanne- Claude’s contributions.

Christo and wife and partner Jeanne-Claude at the opening of The Gates in 2005. Picture: AP

The decision, they said, was theirs and deliberate since it was difficult enough for even one artist to make a name for himself.

The pair moved to New York in 1964 and would call the city home for the rest of their lives. Jeanne-Claude died in 2009 at age 74 from complications of a brain aneurysm.

AP