Christo

“Often the art in New York is related to the buildings, to grandiose things.”

“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.”

“But the drawings are not created only to be sold.”

“If some of our works are symphonies, then wrapped walkways was chamber music.”

“And for me, the real world involves everything: risk, danger, beauty, energy, all we meet with in the real world.”

“That could stay, not forever, because we believe that nothing exists that is forever, not even the dinosaurs, but if well maintained, it could remain for four to five thousand years. And that is definitely not forever.”

“We are probably the only artists in the world who have a 2,000-page book on a work of art that doesn't exist. But in this way, these projects reveal their identity through this whole process. When I'm starting, I only have the slightest idea of how the work of art will exist.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

“Because we do not sell photographs, we have no royalties on books, posters, postcards.”

“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.”

“New York is our home.”

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

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

“We tell them that we believe it will be beautiful because that is our specialty, we only create joy and beauty. We have never done a sad work. Through the drawings, we hope a majority will be able to visualize it.”

“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.”

“Every artist in the world likes his or her work to make people think.”

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