Celebrated Bulgarian artist Christo, who famously shrouded 2.5 kilometres of coast and cliffs at Little Bay in south-eastern Sydney, has died.
The huge environment-specific project ‘Wrapped Coast’ was the first such large-scale instalment created by Christo, in conjunction with his fellow artist and wife, the late Jeanne-Claude.
The work was bigger than Mount Rushmore, and it took an hour’s stroll for rapt viewers to take in its entirety. The project sparked a series of similar works led by both artists in global hotspots including New York’s Central Park, the Reichstag in Berlin and the Pont-Neuf in Paris.
Their initial plan was to wrap the Californian coast, but they decided to do it in Sydney after a visit to their New York home by young Australian art collector John Kaldor in 1967. Kaldor secured the Little Bay site, with a team of more than 100 workers and 11 volunteers taking a month to realise their vision. It was the first in the enduring series of Kaldor Public Art Projects.
A spokesperson for Kaldor Public Art Projects said, “We are deeply saddened by Christo’s passing. He was an extraordinary, history-making artist and a dear friend of John Kaldor and his family. Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s installation ‘Wrapped Coast’ at Sydney’s Little Bay in 1969 was ground-breaking, not only shifting Australia’s cultural understanding of what art could be, but beginning Kaldor’s mission to commission international artists to create new work in Australia.”
The statement adds, “Christo and Jeanne-Claude have always made clear that their artworks in progress be continued after their deaths. Per Christo’s wishes, ‘L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped’ in Paris, France, is still on track for September 18 to October 3, 2021.
This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.