A vibrantly illustrated biography about visionary artist Christo,
encouraging creativity, perseverance, and appreciating the beauty all
around us
Christo (1935-2020) and Jeanne-Claude (1935-2009) are renowned for their
large-scale, ambitious art installations that wrapped landmarks and
swaths of land in fabric, including Berlin's Wrapped Reichstag,
Paris's The Pont Neuf Wrapped, and concluding with New York City's
The Gates in Central Park (2005).
This lively biography chronicles Christo's humble childhood in
Soviet-controlled Bulgaria--under a regime that suppressed individuality
and creativity--to his international fame as a bold (and controversial)
innovator in the art world. Christo discovered an early love of art and
found a way to make a living out of his passion by wrapping bottles,
cans, stacks of magazines, and even an air conditioner. When he met his
wife, Jeanne-Claude, they moved to New York City as undocumented
immigrants and became equal partners in both life and work--he, the
artist, and she, the dealmaker.
Together, Christo and Jeanne-Claude made elaborate, visually stunning
installations that transformed public spaces around the world, all free
to the public. Christo never explained why he felt compelled to wrap
things in fabric--rather, his work celebrated individual interpretation
and the simple joy of seeing something familiar in a new way. And though
each work was temporary, their awe-inspiring designs, uniting nature
with the manmade, stayed with viewers long afterward. Covered in Color
inspires readers to appreciate the beauty around us, however fleeting,
and to push the boundaries of "possible."
