Christo’s Mastaba Sculpture on the Serpentine
Christo and his late wife Jeanne-Claude are well known for their ambitious, large-scale works of art, including the Wrapped Reichstag in Berlin and the Surrounded Islands, in Florida.
His latest project, Mastaba is made of 7,506 oil barrels stacked in a floating scaffolding framework in the middle of the Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park. The structure is 20 metres tall and is made of red and white striped barrels with different coloured tops and bottoms in red, blue and magenta.
Serpentine Gallery
There was a detailed exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery where you can see their ideas progress. From simply piling up the barrels in a narrow street in Paris, to a gigantic structure of millions of barrels proposed for the desert in Abu Dhabi.
The main problems with taking these shots – apart from finding a good viewpoint – was the position of the sun and all the boats! I worked out which angle would be best for the light, then had to just wait, and wait, until there were a few seconds when no boats were in front of the sculpture. For some of the shots the single boat helped with the scale, so have used these too.
Colin Walton at WaltonCreative.com