It was awful to hear the news this morning that Jeanne-Claude, Christo's wife and collaborator, has died. The Gates, Christo and Jeanne-Claude's exhibition of 7,500 saffron curtained gates in Central Park, ranks among the greatest artistic experiences of my life: I was in college in New Haven then, had very little money, and went to New York two days in a row to see them, because having seen them once, I couldn't not go back. Every bit of this marvelous New York profile of the couple is worth reading, but I particularly love this:
She will be missed.The Christos make no secret that their traveling show—from the political jockeying to the public debates to events like the signing of an original drawing, such as the one they’ve given to New York—is all part of what they consider their grand work of art. Whether this process is a critique of art and bureaucracy or simply great public theater, it’s an undeniably canny way to conduct business. “Keep in mind that the money we spend is our money,” says Jeanne-Claude. “If we made a choice of buying a big estate in Aspen, Colorado, or to cover myself in diamonds, we can also do it. Because it’s our money. But it would be very uncomfortable to be covered in diamonds.”