My family and I were able to go San Diego last week as a little mini vacation. And for once, my mom didn’t have a to do list for us to do. During the day we did whatever we wanted – tide pools, beaches, roller coaster, planes, bumper cars, bookstore, walking (lots of walking) and our last night there we went to the Musuem of Contemporary Art San Diego (La Jolla site). We lucked out being there the 3rd Thursday of the month, meaning they were open in the evening and it was free!

The main exhibit was of works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. These pieces were amassed by a private collector that was a trustee of the museum. He passed away two years ago and had donated the works to the museum. I actually remember reading about his death, he was very philanthropic. There were huge photographs of his artwork plus drawings and concept pieces. I loved seeing the drawings that he did and learning about how he viewed the making of his pieces. Now for those not familiar with Christo works, they are more of installations in massive proportions. The one I was most familiar with was the long, giant white fabric fence that went through farming lands in California. Since I had only seen photographs of this work before, seeing more photos of other installations still left me with a feeling of disconnect.

The work in the museum were drawings, compilations of material that were used to persuade the powers that be to let him do these grandiose installations. It gave a point of association. To Christo, the entire process – the renderings, the people, the relationships formed was the artwork. This gave me a connection. The other revelation was that he rarely did commissions or requests. As Grue would say, “Lightbulb.” Back to the roots of my personal journey. With a grandfather who had a successful business, he was always making a point of doing what sold. It didn’t have value unless there was a price on it, and someone paid that price to have it. I remember in college rebelling against that theory. And I think there is a force out there that can push on artists to do what is popular, keep up on the latest and greatest colors, techniques, icons. And I remembered, I don’t want to be pushed.

Would you like to see more of what Christo is about? Check out his website at http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/

4/20/2015, Update: You can also find information on Christo at Artsy.net at: https://www.artsy.net/artist/christo