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This summer, Londoners walking past the Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park can expect to see a multi-coloured, pyramid-like sculpture bobbing away in the water. Titled ‘The Mastaba (Project for London, Hyde Park, Serpentine Lake)’, the temporary artwork is the work of world-famous artist Christo and marks the first time he’s made a major, outdoor artwork in Britain.
Construction started on April 3, and if it’s all plain sailing the 20 metre-high creation should be on show from 18 June - 23 September (barring any particularly bad British weather). Painted red, white, blue and mauve, ‘The Mastaba’ will be made from 7,506 barrels stacked horizontally.
Its time floating in Hyde Park overlaps with an exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery of works by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, his long-term collaborator and wife. That too is going to be filled with barrels - a favourite material of the artistic duo. They’re best known, however, for their obsession with wrapping things. Motorcycles, cars, statues and even women, were all at various times wrapped up by this prolifically creative couple.
To find out more about Christo & Jeanne-Claude at the Serpentine Gallery, click here.