site.btaChristo and Jeanne-Claude Give Contemporary Art a New Face, Dobrich Art Gallery Director Says

Christo and Jeanne-Claude give contemporary art a new face, Dobrich Art Gallery Director Nedko Nedkov said on Wednesday. He was speaking during a presentation of LIK’s June issue, dedicated to the pioneering artist Christo (1935–2020) and his wife Jeanne-Claude (1935–2009). 

“Very often, art historians and experts say that Christo's art is not meant to be liked or disliked, but rather to be accepted or not accepted. The impact of his work is truly significant in terms of vision, scale, and the creative process. We’re talking about art in urban or natural environments, transformed through the perspective of a truly monumental artist,” Nedkov added.

He emphasized that Christo’s works transform the cultural climate of the country in which they are realized and become a sensation that everyone discusses.

Nedko Nedkov recalled how, in 2022, Dobrich Art Gallery hosted a large-scale exhibition featuring posters and drawings by Christo. These were distributed after each installation, printed in limited editions with copyright protection, and through their sale, the artists funded their projects.

The most well-known work by Christo among Bulgarians is the wrapping of the Reichstag in Germany. “During the years of socialism, this was a form of protest, Christo expressed it through his art as a Bulgarian. The wrapped Reichstag was a project that took a long time to prepare and was slowly realized. That was a time when, perhaps for the first time in Bulgaria, people began to speak of Christo, partly openly, partly quietly, accepting him as a global figure, recognizing him, and feeling a sense of pride that he was Bulgarian, even though during socialism he was completely rejected for having left the country, with all the ideological consequences that entailed,” Nedkov explained.