Christo and Jeanne-Claude at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

The well-designed exhibition X-TO + J-C includes both early sculptures (including from the Packages series) and draft sketches, collages, photographs and films of later and larger monumental work, including The Gates, Wrapped Reichstag, and Wrapped Trees. The exhibition details the resources and effort of the larger-scale projects: from ropes to sheeting to structures and professional climbers, it is clear that these sculptures are grand executions. However, as those who have seen these projects live can attest, these projects feel smaller and more personal; in wrapping, draping, and surrounding, the artists bring the grandeur of buildings and landscapes down to our scale.  The exhibition is more or less hung chronologically, with the smaller early work in separate galleries from the photographs of wrapped structures. This gives a sense of the artists’ history and trajectory, but better yet it reminds us that all the works, regardless of size, are equally important in terms of intimacy, detail, thought and effort.

X-TO + J-C: Christo and Jeanne-Claude Featuring Works from the Bequest of David C. Copley, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, through 6 April 2014.

Christo, Package, fabric, rope, and twine, X-TO + J-C: Christo and Jeanne-Claude Featuring Works from the Bequest of David C. Copley,
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego

Christo, Blue Store Front Project, pencil, pastel, charcoal and brown wrapping paper, X-TO + J-C: Christo and Jeanne-Claude Featuring Works from the Bequest of David C. Copley, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego

Christo, The Mastaba, 1,240 Oil Barrels, pencil, charcoal, wax crayon and enamel paint, X-TO + J-C: Christo and Jeanne-Claude Featuring Works from the Bequest of David C. Copley, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego

Christo, Wrapped Reichstag (Project for Berlin), pencil, charcoal, pastel and wax crayon, X-TO + J-C: Christo and Jeanne-Claude Featuring Works from the Bequest of David C. Copley, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego