Javacheff Christo

Christo (Javacheff) was born in Gabrovo, Bulgaria and was known for his large-scale "wrapping" sculptures. His work was done as a collaboration with his wife Jeanne-Claude who was born in Morocco on the same day (June 13, 1935), and she has retroactively been given credit for these world-famous installations. Promoting the work under Christo's name only was a conscious decision on their part, due to the prejudices against female artists in the art world. Despite the large scale and sometimes controversial nature of the projects, they deny that their projects contain any deeper meaning than their immediate aesthetic impact. The purpose of their art, they contend, is simply to create works of art for joy and beauty, and to create new ways of seeing familiar landscapes. The two fell in love through creating artwork together, and were known to fly in separate planes: in case one crashed, the other could continue their work.