Christo Quotes

We never work on only one project because we never know if we will get permission for a project. So, for 'Over the River,' we started in 1992. I was just finishing 'The Umbrellas' in Japan and California, and I was also working on getting permission to wrap the Reichstag.

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.

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.

All our projects are like fabulous expeditions. The story of each project is unique. Our projects have no precedent.

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.

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.

Our work is a scream of freedom.

Some of the projects we've proposed over the years have been refused. But we never do other people's ideas; our ideas come out of our two hearts and our two heads.

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

I escaped from my home country, Bulgaria, to Czechoslovakia and then to the West.

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.

It's very important to understand that we never do the same thing twice; each of our projects is unique. We'll never do another 'Gates.' Each project is a unique image. We do not know in advance how the work will look. I do preparatory drawings, but they are only projections of our vision.

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.

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

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

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

I do a lot of work that's permanent. The drawings, the sculptures, they're permanent.

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.

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.

But the drawings are not created only to be sold.

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