In 1979, land artists Christo and Jean-Claude put together plans for their largest and only permanent work, Mastaba, a modern pyramid-like structure made out of oil barrels. But from the outset it was questionable whether it would actually ever get made. Now...with no finishing date set, the artist says a place has been picked and funding is in order...Take a look at this behemoth.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-christo-jeanne-claude-pyramid-mastaba-20121125,0,5715701.story
I actually like a bunch of Christo's work. I think it's very striking and, at the very least, it creates a surreal landscape within our very real world. This piece I'm not so sure about though. I think it would be awe-inspiring, interesting, and iconic....but it also gives me the feeling that the guy is trying a bit too hard to make some really big.
It's not that the idea is bad or anything like that...but the scale of it borders on ridiculous. Being that similar structures, such as the pyramids, were extremely important to culture and the life of the egyptians, this piece seems a bit sterile, using it's size to gain attention and praise over it's purpose. Maybe that's the point...but when you encounter the pyramids, there's a multi-thousand year history of culture which informed the size and grandeur of the monument...Here, it seems, you just have someone making something as big as financially possible.
Maybe I'm wrong...but the fact that no one's really found a reason to make a structure as big as the pyramids since they were made makes me think that this piece, simply being a solid block of art, probably doesn't require it either.
*Note. I know there are structures since the pyramids that are gigantic....including sculptures. However, I believe the majority of those are probably somewhat usable through religious ceremony or interior space. For instance, if this was a building to house the UAE Contemporary Art Museum, I think it would be far more worth it.
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