By: Andrew Uyeno
Artist Christo Vladimirov Javacheff has given us all the chance to finally walk on water. The Bulgarian artist has finished one of his greatest masterpieces yet, on the Lake Iseo in Italy. They are calling it “The Floating Piers,” an art work that stretches about two miles across the lake. The art piece is made up of over 200,000 floating cubes, all covered in bright yellow fabric.
Over forty years ago, Javacheff and his wife, Jeanne Claude, came up with the idea to give people the ability to walk across water. They tried to bring their dreams to life in Argentina and Japan, but with permit troubles they weren’t able to make it work. Then in 2009 Jeanne Claude passed away at the age of 74. Javacheff lost the love of his life and his partner in crime. This time he set his sights on Italy, a country where him and Jeanne have created works of art before. He found the perfect place to showcase “The Floating Piers,” on Lake Iseo. They are estimating that the piers will see close to 500,000 people walking across its bright yellow fabric.
Christo didn’t spare expense, as it cost him around $16 million to pull off these floating piers. Doing the impossible is what art is all about, expressing yourself while pushing the limits of reality. No dream is ever too big, and that’s exactly what we need to learn from the 81-year-old artist. If you think this is the last we see of him, Javacheff says, “Artists do not retire, they die.”
