RIP Christo

Christo was a strange sort of artist but he was a prophet of a certain modern way of looking art. He used his giant conceptual creations to transform ordinary spaces into places where something is happening. Hundreds of thousands of people came to see his larger works, or to be part of the scene around them. They may not have understood what Christo was about, but they intuitively grasped that this was now the place to be. Those city boosters who want to us "the arts" to reinvigorate urban neighborhoods are following in his footsteps, betting that art can make a place cool, and people will flock to the cool places.