People: May 16, 1983

With a bullhorn as his paintbrush and the crystal-blue waters of Miami's Biscayne Bay his canvas, Christo, 47, was in Conceptual Artist Nirvana last week as he darted about by speedboat, yelling instructions to 400 helpers who had signed on for his latest production. His plan was to envelop eleven garbage-strewn islands between Miami and Miami Beach with some 6 million sq. ft. of pink polypropylene. Christo's $3.2 million "irresponsible, irrational, poetic gesture," as he calls it, is being financed largely by the sale of sketches, drawings and models of the work. As...