NEW YORK – Craig F. Starr Gallery is pleased to present Christo: Show Windows and Store Fronts, 1963-67 – the artist’s first New York gallery exhibition in almost 50 years. A selection of Store Front collages and drawings will be on view alongside important early works like Show Case (1963) and Show Window (1965-66). A particular highlight is Purple Store Front, 1964.
The show looks back to Christo’s (b. 1935) only two exhibitions in the United States at Leo Castelli Gallery. In 1964, Green Store Front (1964, Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA) was part of a group show with works by Richard Artschwager, Alex Hay, and Robert Watts. Two years later, Christo had a solo show at Castelli that included Four Corner Store Fronts and several related drawings and collages​.
Christo is widely known for the environmental works created with his wife and collaborator, Jeanne-Claude (b. 1935 – d. 2009). It is the Show Cases, Show Windows, and Store Fronts that mark an important shift in the artist’s interest from creating smaller, self-contained wrapped objects to altering whole rooms and eventually environments, like Valley Curtain (1970-72, Rifle, Colorado) and The Gates (1979-2005, Central Park, New York City, NY).
Christo began making Show Cases in 1963, when he was living in Paris. He and Jeanne-Claude came to New York in 1964 in preparation for the group show at Castelli, taking up residence in the Chelsea Hotel. It was there, in the confines of their small hotel room that he constructed his first Store Front (Green Store Front). Christo and Jeanne Claude returned to Paris briefly, where he continued to work on the Store Fronts, before they (with their son Cyril) permanently relocated to New York at the end of the year –returning first to the Chelsea Hotel before finally moving to Howard Street, where Christo still works to this day.
Christo: Storefronts and Show Windows, 1963-67 will be on view from through January 23, 2016. The exhibition is accompanied by a publication designed by the artist.
