In Memoriam: Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (1935-2020)

Christo left us earlier this week, he died in his New York home at the age of 84. Together with his life and work partner Jeanne-Claude (d. 2009) he created some of the most visually arresting temporary large-scale installations ever seen. Their work was visionary and unique, it truly stretched the boundaries of what we understand as art. Through their signature wrapping and draping technique, they used monuments, landmarks, bridges, islands, buildings, and nature itself as their canvas and transformed them into iconic artistic interventions.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude were free artists whose practice succeeded in marrying socialism with capitalism. The duo managed to fund their multi-million projects through the sale of the preparatory drawings and made them accessible to the public at no cost. And although each dauntingly complex project took years to design and realise, it would only exist for a few days before it was gone forever. It is perhaps this ephemeral element that is so poignant, the transience of these installations is painfully reminiscent of the brevity of human life. With any of their projects there is a distinct awareness that we are in front of something extraordinary in all its fleeting majesty. To quote Jeanne-Claude, 'The never-to-hap­pen-again dimension is something people can connect with.'

In a 1958 letter Christo wrote, 'Beauty, science and art will always triumph.' I like to believe he was right and hope that his unfinished project for the Arc de Triomphe in Paris (scheduled for late 2021) will see the light.

#christo #inmemoriam #contemporaryart #conceptualart #installationart #artblog #artblogger #beyondthecanvasblog

Le Pont Neuf Wrapped

Paris, France (1975-85)

Wrapped Reichstag

Berlin, Germany (1971-95)

Wrapped Trees

Fondation Beyeler and Berower Park, Riehen, Switzerland (1997-98)

Christo at The Floating Piers

Lake Iseo, Italy (2014-16)

Little Coast

Sydney, Australia (1968-69)

All images © 2020 Christo https://christojeanneclaude.net

Museums are neutral. Or are they?

Defining what a museum is and does is no mean feat. We know museums do a lot more than just preserve and display valuable objects that the public can enjoy and learn from. Through their collections, museums trace the history of humanity and teach millions of people about who they are. As such, museums aren't just containers of heritage, they are creators of visual, social and cultural identity. I simplify, but it's all much more complicated than this.

The roots of many museums are entwined with those of colonialism. And to this day, this means that these institutions carry the heavy and unresolved burden of provenance and restitution, the largely overlooked issue of imperial violence and a consolidated history of gender and racial bias. These are places that were built to celebrate the great imperialist project, but why are these myths still perpetuated in 2020? Shouldn't museums focus on addressing these dangerously obsolete narratives in order to facilitate the understanding of the enduring impact of colonialism to allow people to reconcile with the past, make sense of the present and try and build a fairer future?

Social media and technology have allowed museums to reach much broader audiences across the world. Their power to become active agents of social change is now bigger than ever and they should leverage their status to educate, connect and unite communities.

#museums #colonialism #decolonisation #artblog #beyondthecanvasblog

Musings on (online) auctions and the timelessness of Morandi's still lives

I have been to a couple of auctions in London and I thought there was something uniquely intriguing about the whole process. The theatrical antics of the auctioneer (the Tobias Meyers and Oliver Barkers of this world), the palpable tension in the room when the most anticipated pieces are unveiled and people start bidding for them - it's an exciting ritual. But that's all on hold for the foreseeable future, and online auctions allow auction houses to (more or less) carry on with their business and investors to bid from the comfort of their home. Win/win.

But auctions are a pretext, I saw this piece in the news this morning and I immediately knew I wanted to write about it. The first reason is sentimental because Giorgio Morandi and I share the same birthplace, Bologna. His home and study are a mere 5' walk from where I grew up so he's an artist I feel a strong cultural and emotional connection with. The second reason is that I believe his work is timeless and universal, which perhaps explains why this sublime still life fetched $1.6M in New York last week.

Inspired by the masters of the Italian Quattrocento, Morandi's iconic compositions share the same coherent structure and apparent simplicity. His work was also heavily influenced by Cezanne (whose wasn't) and we see this in the purity of the forms he painted time and time again, almost obessively and to the point of near abstraction despite always staying loyal to his representational style. I am spellbound by the subtle intensity of the powdery tones of the greys and the pinks in this Natura Morta from 1951. And although it feels like time is suspended, as it probably should be in a still life, through his relentless investigation of this genre Morandi breathed life into these jugs and vases turning them from simple everyday objects into powerful symbols of the depth and honesty of his lifelong research.

#giorgiomorandi #stilllife #modernart #auctions #sothebys #artblog #artblogger #beyondthecanvasblog

Giorgio Morandi, Still Life (1951)

Photo Sotheby's