Christo, Running Fence, Project for Sonoma and Marin Counties, 1975, charcoal and pastel on paper, 42 x 96 inches. Collection Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Museum purchase. © CHRISTO 1975.
Christo is best known for the monumental projects he and his late wife and collaborator Jeanne-Claude accomplished over nearly four decades. These include the 24 1/2 mile-long Running Fence in California’s Sonoma and Marin Counties (1976), the Wrapped Reichstag in Berlin (1995), and the epic-scale crowd pleaser The Gates (2005), which comprised 7,053 fabric banners that spanned the walkways of New York’s Central Park.
XTO+J-C will present the artist’s important Wrapped Package (1960) alongside many drawings and collages related to his early wrapped objects—chairs, road signs, motorcycles, and other commonplace items that disrupt our relationship to the everyday through their concealment. The exhibition also includes Christo’s large-scale Store Front (1965–66) and a related series of Show Windows from the early ‘70s, which signal an expansion of the artist’s sculptural practice to a new environmental realm.
Taken together, this exhibition features more than fifty works by Christo, and also highlights recent gifts from The David C. Copley Foundation and from the artist himself, in recognition of Copley’s patronage and support of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego over the years. The late David C. Copley (1952–2012) was the most prolific collector of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work in the United States.
XTO+J-C: Christo and Jeanne-Claude Featuring Works from the Bequest of David C. Copley is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Lead underwriting support has been generously provided by Colette Carson Royston and Dr. Ivor Royston, with additional funding and works of art received from the David C. Copley Foundation. Additional underwriting support has been received from the Friends of David C. Copley underwriting group.
Tampa Museum of Art - XTO + J-C: Christo and Jeanne-Claude featuring works from the bequest of David C. Copley - 26.09.2015-03.01.2016
