Lower Manhattan Wrapped Building/Project for #2 Broadway,
New York City

Christo’s controversial wrapped projects operate on the fundamental principle of sculpture: orchestrating form in space. By wrapping familiar landmarks and landscapes, Christo places recognizable structures in an unconventional light, thereby allowing the viewer to see the form and the space as if for the first time. He and his wife-collaborator Jeanne-Claude have taken on enormous projects, from the 1969 wrapped coastline in Australia and the 1972 project for Colorado, Valley Curtain, to the 1995 project for the Reichstag in Berlin and the upcoming project for 7,500 gates to be installed in Central Park in 2005. These environmental works require substantial amounts of financial support so, to raise money, Christo often publishes print editions of realized and fantasy projects. Lower Manhattan Wrapped Building/Project for #2 Broadway was created as a fundraiser for his 1985 Paris project, Pont-Neuf, Wrapped. Grid lines and sketchy coloration give the image an unrefined appearance, although a closer look reveals an extraordinary craftsmanship at work. What appears roughly drawn and haphazardly tied is in actuality intricately printed, hand-cut, and pieced.