Eighty-three-year-old landscape artist Christo is undertaking a mammoth project — literally. He is using 7,506 red, blue, and pink oil drums to comprise his latest artistic endeavor, The London Mastaba, stacking the drums on top of each other in the shape of a trapezoid as tall as Egypt’s Great Sphinx. The work of art can be found on the lake in the middle of London’s Hyde Park, floating around until September.
Photo: The Royal Parks
7,000 Oil Drums Are Floating Around Hyde Park. But Don’t Worry, It’s Art.
It’s not the first time Christo has attempted a project of this size and style. During his very first project in the late ‘50s, he was nearly arrested for blocking off a street in Paris with 89 oil drums.
Christo’s newest London work of art is a follow up to a 2016 project in which he allowed hundreds of thousands of people to simulate walking on water. While it might seem like the 650 tons of oil drums will be his final legacy, they’re actually just a trial run for his real masterpiece — a project utilizing eight times as many drums, set to be installed in the desert of Abu Dhabi. 