Cristo and Jeanne-Claude Discuss their upcoming artwork

Cristo and Jeanne-Claude discussed their upcoming environmental installation art at a luncheon at the National Press Club. One project, “Over the River,” is planned to open in Colorado in 2012. The project is a series of fabrics hung over cables which will cover parts of the Arkensas river. The project will use over 5.9 miles of fabric and be visible from the nearby highway and to rafters going down the river. “Over the River” will cost $50 million, and will be funded entirely by Cristo and Jeanne-Cleude. Their main source of income comes from selling sketches and plans of their projects, as well as selling Cristo’s earlier works.

Another project, “The Mastaba,” will take place in the United Arab Emirates. “The Mastaba” will be made of 410,000 multicolored oil barrels stacked into a structure that will be over 500 feet high.

One unique aspect of Cristo and Jeanne-Claude’s work is that all of their artwork is temporary – after it has been on display for a few months it is taken down and the materials from the project are recycled. Human beings have a love and tenderness for things which do not last, said Jean-Claude, such as childhood innocence. We try to capture the aesthetic quality of this love and tenderness in our artwork, she said.