Quotes By Christo

Every artist in the world likes his or her work to make people think.

We tell them that we believe it will be beautiful because that is our specialty, we only create joy and beauty. We have never done a sad work. Through the drawings, we hope a majority will be able to visualize it.

The other work we started in 1992, it is called Over the River, Project for the Arkansas River in the state of Colorado, we haven't got the permit yet. And, we are working at both of those, trying to get the permit. Therefore, we do not know which one will be realized next.

Therefore, when we arrive in a place and talk to new people about a new image, it is very hard for them to visualize it. That's where the drawings are very important, because at least we can show a projection of what we believe it will look like.

Now, there is no way to say how long some projects take, that's our principle.

The decision to use only the name Christo was made deliberately when we were young because it is difficult for one artist to get established and we wanted to put all the chances on our side.

We have created indoor installations inside museums, like the Wrapped Floor at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 1968, and not monumental at all by any standards.

People think our work is monumental because it's art, but human beings do much bigger things: they build giant airports, highways for thousands of miles, much, much bigger than what we create.

We don't sell technical drawings except when they are incorporated into a drawing or a collage.

You see, we are not machines and we do not have lots of ideas in a drawer.

New York is our home.

The only place where people in Manhattan walk for leisure is in the park.

Therefore we have to go over the fact that all human beings are afraid by what is new. It is our work to convince them that they will enjoy it, and even if they don't, to allow us just for 14 days to create that work of art.

Our work is a scream of freedom.

The work of art is a scream of freedom.

If some of our works are symphonies, then wrapped walkways was chamber music.

Germany is an economic giant but a political midget, and with the end of the Cold War she has started to muscle her presence throughout Europe and the world.

It appears to be monumental only because it's art.

But now, today, we don't know if Over the River is truly the next project to be realized, because something very nice happened to our life in November in New York.

We wish to work in total freedom.

It is not only one person's work, it's really a partnership and collaboration during all these years.

Because we do not sell photographs, we have no royalties on books, posters, postcards.

The freedom of every artist is essential.

And for me, the real world involves everything: risk, danger, beauty, energy, all we meet with in the real world.

Now, to describe the process of the Wrapped Reichstag, which went from 1971 to '95, there is an entire book about that, because each one of our projects has its own book. The book is not an art book, meaning it's not written by an art historian.

And for every project, because it takes years, you can see the early drawings and collages as just a simple, vague idea, and through the years and through the negotiations of getting the permit, you see that every detail is now clarified.

To keep that absolute freedom we cannot be obliged to anyone.

And the most unusual and surrealistic place in New York City is Central Park.

The other exception where we did not at all restore the place to its original condition is the Surrounded Islands. Before we installed our fabric, we had our workers remove 42 tons of garbage off the beaches of those islands. We never brought the garbage back.

That could stay, not forever, because we believe that nothing exists that is forever, not even the dinosaurs, but if well maintained, it could remain for four to five thousand years. And that is definitely not forever.