Designer Analysis - Christo Javacheff

Christo Javacheff
The Pont Neuf, Paris

Christo Javacheff was born in 1935 in Bulgeria. He is famous for his works he often did with list late wife Jeanne-Claude Christo where they would wrap up structures and landscapes on a large scale using materials and rope. The work can be described as similar to the work of New realists (Nouveaux Réalistes) a French movement founded in 1960 by Pierre Restany. The movement is famously described as new ways of perceiving the real. and is closely associated with the European Pop art movement. Artists use collage and assemblage or real objects in their work. this incorporation allows the artist to see the world as an image, from which they would then take objects from or as Christo does take his work to a real life subject both situation allow the artists to bring art and life closer together.

The above photograph shows a sculpture piece created 1985 and left for two weeks before it was dismantled. Christo wrapped up- The Pont Neuf - Paris's oldest bridge, in a thick canvas and secured it with rope. This was considered an exciting new way to create a sculpture.
The odd temporary engagement allows the viewer to be drawn in to the sculptural details of the bridge and engage with the new surface.

The work can be considered as holding a theme of preserving and restoration. The only other time you may see something covered in a similar textile would be if restoration work was taking place. Christo work may spark this association. Or similarly the beauty captured by his work argues reason for the preservation of the historical structure. The attention also creates a refreshed media hype to something sceptical but maybe forgotten because of it's historical construction date, reviving the original beauty.