Pontiac show unwraps the art of Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Their works are at once monumental and ephemeral -- breathtaking, unlikely apparitions that materialize for a few weeks, and then vanish.

 

New York land artists Christo and the late Jeanne-Claude, who died last month, worked for 40 years on projects that were usually dismissed, at first, as absurd or quixotic.

 

They surrounded a series of emerald-green Key Biscayne islands in flamingo pink fabric. They erected a fabric fence that wandered across 25 miles of the rolling hills in California's Marin and Sonoma counties.

 

These astonishing works are documented in a new show at Pontiac's Museum of New Art, "The Prinzhorn Exhibition: Christo and Jeanne-Claude," up through Jan. 16.

 

The exhibit features videos, luminous still photography, and artists' plans and renderings of the works. This is the first time the pair's art has been highlighted in the Detroit area.

 

"Nothing remains from the original projects, of course," says MONA director Jef Bourgeau. "The only thing left is photographic documentation and archival material, whether drawings or collages."

 

Perhaps most famous in this country was the 2005 "The Gates" in New York City. Christo and Jeanne-Claude installed 7,500 vertical frames spanning 25 miles of Central Park walkways -- each frame 16 feet tall and topped by large, free-hanging saffron banners. Even nature cooperated. It snowed during the project, with visually stunning results.

 

Most works took years, often decades, between the original proposal and actually winning permission to go ahead. One can well imagine the reaction of -- say -- Berlin city officials when first approached in 1971 when the artists said, "We'd like to wrap the Reichstag building in fabric. When can we start?"

As it happens, they'd wait 24 years for their chance.

 

"The Reichstag project was pretty fantastic," says Bourgeau. "It'd be like wrapping the Michigan Central Depot in fabric."

 

Bourgeau says the pair was frequently greeted with skepticism bordering on the cynical. Indeed, an essential part of the process became punching through that suspicion to an understanding of what they hoped to accomplish.

 

Of course, monumentality by its very nature attracts brickbats. But look at these gorgeous pictures, and see if you don't think something remarkable was achieved -- something that underlines the fleeting nature of beauty.