Hundreds of huge yellow umbrellas bloomed like mutant sunflowers on mountainsides north of Los Angeles in October, in what will probably be remembered as one of 1991's most unusual art events.
The umbrellas - the latest massive project from the artist Christo - lent an air of whimsy and delight to the Grapevine route through a mountain pass that normally gets no attention unless it's blocked by snow.Altogether, Christo's project contained 1,760 umbrellas dotting 18 miles along the 4,144-foot Tejon Pass between the mountain hamlet of Gorman and the town of Grapevine at the extreme south end of the San Joaquin Valley.
The California umbrellas unfurled a day late because a typhoon-strength storm in Japan on Oct. 8 forced Christo to delay opening 1,340 umbrellas there. The Japanese part of the project, done in blue cloth, dotted the banks of the Sato River in the Ibariki Valley about 75 miles north of Tokyo.
"I want this project to graphically show the differences between the world's two richest countries," Christo said before the umbrellas went up.
The Japanese portion of his $26 million work featured intricate designs that highlighted efficient use of land in Japan. The California umbrellas were spread over a barren landscape in seemingly disorganized fashion to show how much open land there is.
Christo plotted the location of each umbrella and paid the work's full cost from sales of drawings, maps and models.
"This is more excitement than we've ever had up here," said Elizabeth Hutchins of nearby Frazier Park as she watched a crew of 10 crank an umbrella open. "The scope is immense and gigantic, and I love the way people from all over have come to see it."
One who came from France was Marie DeLeuf, who said this is her second Christo experience. "I saw him drape the Pont Neuf in Paris in 1985 and I loved it," she said. "I had to see this."
"These umbrellas are alive," said Joann Rowles, who sold souvenir postal items at a roadside stand. "They move and it's a beautiful color. I wasn't excited about them at all until I saw one go up. Then I understood."
That's just how the 56-year-old Bulgarian-born Christo (full name: Christo Javacheff) planned it.
"People won't understand this until it is up," he said. "They'll think of it in terms of money until they see it. Then they'll get the aesthetics."
Each umbrella was mounted on a shiny yellow pole with glistening yellow struts. Each was 19 feet 8 inches tall, with a diameter of 28 feet.
The umbrella exhibit was to remain on display through Oct. 31. However, it seems that every silver lining has a cloud. And the cloud in this case was the high wind on Oct. 27. Winds gusting up to 40 mph sent one of the 485-pound umbrellas across a road, crushing and killing 33-year-old Lori Rae Keevil. Two other people suffered minor injuries.
Christo was in Japan when the incident happened. In a statement, he said he was "shocked and distressed to learn of this accidental death." Later, he said that his two-nation umbrella exhibit was part of real life and he must "live with the consequences of the real world. But I will live with that tragedy to the end of my life." He requested that the umbrellas be removed immediately - four days prior to the exhibit's original closing date.
The umbrellas were all torn apart and recycled. None were sold, despite multimillion-dollar offers. "I do this for art, not money," Christo said.