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Bulgarian-born artist Christo, best known for wrapping buildings and famous landmarks in fabric or plastic, has died at his home in New York, aged 84. He passed away of natural causes on Sunday, according to a statement posted on the artist's official Facebook page. Christo, who always worked with his wife Jeanne-Claude, famously covered the Reichstag in Berlin and the Pont-Neuf in Paris with reams of cloth. His artworks "brought people together" around the world, the statement says. "Christo lived his life to the fullest, not only dreaming up what seemed impossible, but realising it," it reads, adding that the...

Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum, but the special election to be held here next Tuesday has many people wondering if the laws of physics and politics have been temporarily conjoined. On Election Day, Florida’s Cuban Americans will go to the polls twice—once to vote for America’s next president, and again to determine Cuba’s.

I just wanted to let Freepers (and my art ping list) know of this great documentary on Christo's Gates that were in Central Park in 2005. I have not been doing much writing (or pinging) on FR lately, but this documentary has moved me to do so. Check the HBO listings; it is on frequently this month. The whole process of setting this up, from initial meetings in 1979, to its final installation is fascinating. But even better are the images from all times of day and weather: snow and ice included. I was very moved by my own visit...

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Gates stir all kinds of associations, but perhaps the most important thing is that they became an occasion for the city of New York to unite. They spawned a grand, gala, inspirational event: Happy crowds came to witness the first unfurling, Mayor Bloomberg seemed uncommonly emotional, and they generated a good deal of business. It may seem cynical to mention the last—much touted as proof of Bloomberg’s business acumen—but it points to the fact that New York, which has been under economic siege since 9/11, once again was in the black. Thus art’s catalytic and rallying power,...

People got very excited about Christo's latest public art work, "The Gates," in New York's Central Park. For two week's 7,500 metal gates draped with orange fabric were staked along 23 miles of the park's footpaths. Some people called "The Gates" a masterpiece. Others called it an ugly nuisance. New York Post columnist Andrea Peyser said all the orange fabric on "The Gates" made it look like an ad for Home Depot. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) was annoyed by the criticism. "Nobody's criticizing this. Everybody likes it. And this is certainly art," he said. It is? Well,...

We caught our first glimpse of the Gates from our taxi up Central Park West. Already I was drawn in and fascinated. At each opening into Central Park, Christo has extended his initial gates, already welcoming you in. On roads into the park, there are sometimes city police or other vehicles. But on the quieter paths, only a trail of orange draws you in. The orange, or saffron color, is wonderful: like the warm light of the beginning or end of the day, it glows in light or in dusk. It shimmers through the woods in the distance, winding around...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 18 - You've seen Christo's "Gates" in Central Park. But what about Hargo's "Gates" in Somerville, Mass.? Sure, Hargo is unabashedly riding on the coattails of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. But it did take him some time to make his gates: 0.002 years, he estimates. That's a good chunk of a day. You may as well take a look:not-rocket-science.com/gates.htm. Just who is Hargo? Is he some kind of genius wrapper? His name is Geoff Hargadon, he is 50 and, in a telephone interview, he would only say, enigmatically, "Art is not my profession." His last installation was a...

The New York Media are all a-twitter over The Gates : a massive "art project" in Central Park,which resembles nothing so much as une homage to Le Home Depot. (Click on link for rest of nasty comments.)

NEW YORK (AP) - With flowing fabric the color of a sunrise, "The Gates" - a massive public art installation - was unfurled Saturday for the start of a 16-day stay transforming miles of footpaths in Central Park. The project opened with Mayor Michael Bloomberg dropping the first piece of saffron-colored fabric to the cheers of a huge crowd. He was joined by exhibit creators Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The crowd counted down the seconds before Bloomberg, a longtime backer of the project, opened the exhibition at 8:30 a.m. The weather was windy and cold as the first fabric dropped from...

In 1991 David Yust clocked 22 hours staring at a forest of yellow umbrellas in a valley north of Los Angeles. He spent 13 days in Berlin in 1995 marveling at the aluminum-surfaced fabric that draped the Reichstag, once rising at 2 a.m. for a reverential photo session of the sun rising over the enfolded neo-Renaissance landmark. And next week he plans to photograph a saffron-cloaked Central Park at dawn. Mr. Yust, 65, is part of a far-flung group of followers of the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, whose latest public art project, "The Gates," is scheduled to open along 23...

A massive art project in Central Park began to take shape yesterday, with the installation of huge steel beams that will soon turn walkways into curtains of color. The beams are needed to hold saffron-hued ribbons floating through the wind from metal plates framing 23 miles of park pathways.

For two weeks in February, walkways in Central Park will be festooned with 23 miles of saffron-colored fabric gates by the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude in a public art project they have sought to do for 23 years. The artists had unsuccessfully been trying for years to win city approval for the piece, titled "The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979 to 2005," until Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is a patron of the arts, agreed to it. Beginning next month, 7,500 16-foot metal frames designed to hold the fabric will be erected throughout the park at 15-foot intervals. The fabric...

LONDON — The green-gold expanse of savanna; above it, the purple horizon-hiding haze; and above that, like a pyramid improbably suspended in the sky, the snows of Kilimanjaro. "Great, high and unbelievably white in the sun," as Hemingway wrote, the continent of Africa — some would say our planet itself — has hardly anything to show more fair. But the show could soon be over. The summit of Kilimanjaro is losing its ice so quickly that it could be barren dirt before the next decade is out. When the ice goes, it will take with it an irreplaceable 10-millennium record...

Artist Christo Gets Nod to Do Up NYC Central Park Wed Jan 22, 4:31 PM ET Add By Alden BentleyNEW YORK (Reuters) - Artistic duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude have finally won permission to snake a fluttering orange sculpture through 23 miles of New York's Central Park, ending a decades-old debate, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Wednesday. Reuters Photo The exhibit -- "The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979-2005" -- will be erected in February 2005 and stand for two weeks. Christo is famous for his giant temporary works of art, such as wrapping the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art...