Claes Oldenburg

1. CLAES OLDENBURG
Soft or hard, which is better?

2. Claes Oldenburg – b. 1929
(Stockholm)
 Studied literature and art hist. in the US
at Yale in 1946-50, father was a
diplomat in the US
 Studied art at the Art Institute of
Chicago in 1950-54
 In 1959, the Judson Gallery exhibited
his work ranging from monstrous
human figures to everyday objects,
made from a mix of drawings, collages,
and papier-maché.
 In 1961, he opened The Sto re in his
studio, where he recreated the
environment of neighbourhood shops.
 He displayed familiar objects made out
of plaster, reflecting American society’s
celebration of consumption, and was
soon heralded as a Pop artist with the
emergence of the movement in 1962.
Sketch for public work. (date
unknown)

3. Clo the spin, Cor-Ten and stainless
steels 13.7 x 3.7 x 1.4 m
In what ways has Oldenburg taken the
inside and put it outside?
One author wrote that, “Oldenburg…
[makes] architectural devices which act
as question marks and point to
exhaustion, decadence and cynicism in
society.” In what ways does Clo the spin
do this?

4. Public Art
 Oldenburg’s public works are strongly Pop in
their subject matter.
 He turns the banal into art, asking us to question
our understanding of what art is.
 Many of his public works includes: clothespins,
safety pins, garden trowels, binoculars, rubber
stamps, etc.
 When working on his public works he
collaborated with his wife Coosje van Bruggen

5. Trowel I, 1971-76 Steel painted with
polyurethane enamel (12.7 x 3.4 x 4.4
m)
Typewriter Eraser 1999,
painted stainless steel and
Fiberglass
Oldenburg said of art, “I am for art that takes its form from the lines of life itself,
that twists and extends…and is heavy and coarse and blunt and sweet and
stupid as life itself.” Do these works seems to encapsulate these ideas?
Why/why not? In what ways do these works comment on the ‘American’
worldview?

6. Soft Sculpture
 In the late sixties, Oldenburg started to construct
his ‘soft’ sculptures.
 Often multi-media works, these sculptures have
a soft, tangible quality to them.
 His work is a satirical interpretation of the
symbols of the American consumer society and
the hidden power of everyday objects.
 His works create a metamorphosis of these
everyday objects because of the scale and form
that he creates with these works.

7. So ft Bathtub (Mo de l)— Gho st
Ve rsio n* (1966): acrylic and
pencil on foam-filled canvas
with wood, cord, and plaster.
* Ghost version refers to the colour as
Oldenburg would sometimes to the same
sculpture , one in colour and one white.
Why do you think that Oldenburg
uses the bathtub as an inspiration
for his sculpture? Like
Rauschenberg, do you think that
this work has the connotations of
privacy, etc? Why?

8. Soft Pay-Telephone, 1 9 6 3.
Vinylfile d with kapo k, m o unte d o n painte d
wo o d,
(1 1 8 . 2 x 48 . 3 x 22. 8 cm . ),
Thinking about Oldenburg’s creation of
the ‘soft sculptures’ how is he asking us
to question the our perception of the
banal? In what ways does this work
seem to be a satire on American
consumerism?
Oldenburg used the phrase, ‘formal
metamorphosis’ to describe his work.
What do you think he meant by this?

9. Giant Hamburger (1962) Printed sailcloth
stuffed with foam, h52 x w82 7/8 in
Thinking about the traditional sense of what we consider sculpture, how has
Oldenburg challenged our understanding of the medium. Do you think that
there is meant to be a deep meaning or is there a sense of playfulness to his
work? Why / why not?
Floor Cake mixed media 60" x 9' x 48"
1962

10. Giant Hamburger
 Absurd and kitsch, this massive over-sized version of a twentieth –
century icon evokes a sense of incredulity.
 The artist’s desire to imitate and displace one of the most potent
symbols of American culture enhances its power and impact.
 Not only in its unconventional subject matter but also in its soft form
it crushes all preconceived notions of traditional sculpture being
solid and hard.
 Oldenburg was concerned with making art from materials and
precuts from the commercial environment.
 He wanted his art to reflect contemporary, everyday life in all its
complexity and change.
 What is Oldenburg saying about the culture he is representing.?

11. The Store
 In 1961 Oldenburg opened The Sto re , a
shop furnished with his depictions of
consumer goods derived from food,
clothing, and other everyday
commodities. The Sto re were extensions,
of the happenings organized at the end
of the 1950s and early 1960s by Robert
Rauschenberg, and others.
 7 -UP was part of The Sto re . Oldenburg
gradually filled The Sto re with sculptures
inspired by the tawdry merchandise he
saw in downtown shop windows.
 His sculptures were made of plaster-
soaked muslin placed over wire frames,
which was then painted and priced for
such amounts as $198.99.
 Oldenburg elevated the objects in his
store to the status of art and sold them to
the public, thus circumventing the usual
venue of a commercial gallery.

12. The Store con’t
 The bright enamel paint on 7 -UP mimics
the real product and also alludes to the
brash colors of billboards and
advertisements.
 7 -UP's crumpled surface and sloppily
applied paint relate to the then dominant
gestural aesthetics of Abstract
Expressionism, and to the messiness of
street trash.
 Oldenburg is also making fun of the
Abstract Expressionist artists and their
lofty goals by imitating their energetic
paint application on this image of an
everyday object.
 Like his contemporary, Andy Warhol,
famed for his images of soup cans and
other consumer products, Oldenburg's
work deliberately confronts the issues of
"high" verus "low" art, art as commodity,
and art as a reflection of the

13. 7-UP, 1961 Enamel on plaster-soaked
cloth on wire 55 x 39 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.

14. Soft Fur Good Humors, 1 9 6 3.
Fake fur fille d with kapo k; wo o d painte d with e nam e l
4 units, e ach 5. 1 x 24. 1 x 48 . 2 cm

15. Oldenburg said of his art, "I am for an art that is political-
erotic-mystical, that does something else than sit on its
ass in a museum.” (1961) In what ways does this feed into
the Pop Art philosophy that we have been studying so far?
How do you think that Oldenburg’s art would have
challenged the American status quo for fine art?
Ice Bag - Scale C (1971)Ice Bag

16. Final words…
Oldenburg said of his work:
Iwish to re fle ct thing s as thy
are no w and always witho ut
se ntim e ntality. To face facts and
le arn the ir be auty.