Christo and Jeanne Claude - wrapped coast-

These are some pictures of the wrapped coast by Christo and Jeanne Claude. :D
How it all started:
Christo initially moved into a industrial area and started working there and that was when he encountered oil drums. Then, he went to experiment with them stacking them up like this!!:




I really like the second and third one as the material he uses to wrap the oil barrel really blends well with the oil barrel and it gives the effect he wants, the texture, but at the same time keeping the organic form of the oil barrel.

In the two pictures above, we can see the sketch of his work before he did it. Without the sketches, i will really think that his works (the stacking of the oil barrels) were done at random. The scale of the art work is also something i would want to learn from~ :)

Now back to the coasts, Christo was interested in the texture and process ( packaging and wrapping) and the materials he uses to wrap things are transparent, translucent or opaque. He usually uses fabric. 1. to translate fragile nomatic quality of theproject. 2. want to also have the movement of the fabric where the wind can be 'seen' and felt. One thing about his works is that they are not permanent. For me, this is something very hard to accept if those were my work, because I do like works that are 3D stay 3D and not like it to be translated into phorography. I feel that if it was translated only into videos and photography, much of the essence of the work has been lost. No longer can we feel the wind and look at the dancing of the fabric in the wind and no longer can we really feel the massiveness of the project, standing beside it. However, Christo also has his own reason as to why he kept all his works temporary. 1. he wanted to keep his works fresh. 2. he was into recycling and all the materials (fabric) he used will be recycled.

one may wonder that for such a huge project, sketchs might not be enough for christo to visuallize the real work. Hence christo also created models or replicas of the thing that were to be wrapped and wrappes it. Materials for many artists is a great problem. The high consumption rates of paint etc. may burn holes in artist's wallet. Hence, to pay for his projects, christo would sell his prep work and sketch to save up for every project he does.

Comments on the Wrapped Coast:

What i like:

i really like the scale of the project where the artist is bold enough to create something of such a big scale. And despite the simplicity of the look of the project, the creation of the work requires much planning and alot of work done in installation of this site-specific work. The idea of using fabric which will move and flow beautifully in the wind is AWESOME! Since chrito only uses one single color in his work,we can clearly see the slightest shadow casted or the bright patch recieving direct sunlight. This contrast in light and dark will nicely show the texture of the coast.

What i dont really like:

i really dislike the fact that the fabric he uses actually looks like its disrupting the site. Hence this takes away the overally beauty of the site. Unlike the wrapping seen in the wrapping of the oil drums, where the color blends in well, the strong contrast of the natural earthly color is being covered by a much too clean white. Hence, it looks as if nature is being taken over by some huge man-made thing. Well, it this was the message it does work but i think the greatest loss was the beauty of the site being covered. If a translucent piece of fabric was used where the difference in light and dark can still be see and where the natural beauty is also seeping through it, i think that would be wonderful. Also regarding the fabric, i feel that fabric of a higher elasticity would complement the work better as in many parts of the work seen, the fabric does not hug the details to the coast that nicely. Hence many details were ommited. and that gives the work a lesser feel interms of the texture.

This is my favourite work!! Although this work is of the same subject matter, i really do see the beauty of nature in this one. This one is called packed coast, and hence i can assume that the transparent materials used is material similar to cling wrap. since this time, the material used are transparent, this allows the viewer to actually see the subject matter and feel the beauty in the colaboration of the coast and the material used to 'pack' it. The bright reflection of the sun on the reflective transparent material also gives a great effect, almost changing the texture of the coast, making it look smooth and glossy. The lines also forms geometric shapes, like a slight cubist influenced art. Although this work does not have the smooth flow of fabric in the wind, it somehow seem softer, as the light reflected off the sharp edges of the coast makes it look softer and smoother. :D