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Essay Subject: Life & career, major works, influences, innovations, themes of Swedish-Amer. Pop artist/sculptor.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Life & career, major works, influences, innovations, themes of Swedish-Amer. Pop artist/sculptor. Paper Introduction: Claes Oldenburg's sculpture, in which ordinary objects are transformed by radical changes in scale and the use of unexpected materials, has become one of the most widely known bodies of contemporary art work. Oldenburg was one of a number of artists who reacted against Abstract Expressionism's domination of American art in the 1950s. In various ways, these artists returned to the representation of people and objects in their work. But, American artists of the early 1960s did not limit themselves to the subjects favored by older art traditions that had focused on illusionistic replication of the visual world. Instead, artists such as Andy Warhol and James Rosenquist took elements of popular culture--movies, billboards, magazines, commercial products--as their subjects. The new Pop Art responded to the commercialized environment that these artists Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The witty, good-humored presentation in The Store was very popular,but Oldenburg did not sell much of the work. 197). The shock of the new: Art and the century of change. In tones of brown, black, andgray, Oldenburg created an installation that evoked the somber quality ofNew York streets, and was filled with papier-mвchй reproductions of urbantrash. New York: Abrams.Friedman, M. This approach to the object marked one of the primary differencesbetween Oldenburg's art and that of the Pop Art group. 23). Minneapolis: Walker Art Center.Geldzahler, H. This use of everyday objects clearly reflects the influence of thePop group, as well as that of Dada. London: Thames and Hudson.Livingstone, M. Because hisdrawings are available, it is possible to trace the evolution of the sexualimagery in Oldenburg's transformation of a familiar household object. (1995). (1992). The mouse museum/the ray gun wing: Two collections/two buildings by Claes Oldenburg. This approach "limits the possibilities," and,unlike earlier soft works where chance determined the folds and positionsof the material, the forms "are now fixed" (Oldenburg, quoted in Glimcher,1992, p. This led to hisbreakthrough 1962 exhibition at New York's Green Gallery. Pop art 1955-7 . In "Empire" ("Papa") Ray Gun, which is made of caseinon newspaper wrapped around a wire frame, Oldenburg used the basic right-angle gun shape, with trigger, to make an object that would not necessarilybe readily identified as a gun. London: Rizzoli.Glimcher, A. 51). Invarious ways, these artists returned to the representation of people andobjects in their work. And, the food piecespossess an enormous appeal that derives from the translation of the sensualqualities of the original objects into the medium of puffy, brightlypainted works whose softness echoes and amplifies the inherent thick,creaminess of cake frosting and ice cream. 82), a Plate of Meat (Livingstone, 1991, p.82), and a Sewing Machine (Fineberg, 1995, p. Later, the work was "seen as part of the largerpolitical protest against" the Vietnam War (Senie, 1992, p. At first, Oldenburg painted "rather conservative nudes andportraits," (Lippard, 1966, p. The odd sight of a4 -foot clothespin in the center of an urban square is enough, in itself,to create "a sense of surprise and delight, [which also] compel[s] us tosee things anew" (Senie, 1992, p. Oldenburg began designing fantasymonuments as early as 1965. These include the vinyl SoftDormeyer Mixer (1965) (Fineberg, 1995, p. American pop art: A prologue. But, while theseartists' selection of objects referred to broader questions about societyand art, Pop and Dada used commercial images, found objects, and Readymadesin which the object was usually "left to speak for itself" (Lippard, 1966,p. Like Pop artists, Oldenburg engaged inthe "elevation of the common object to a fit and natural subject forartistic contemplation" (Geldzahler, 1985, p. These thematic objects, such as the Clothespinand the Typewriter Eraser, are regarded by Oldenburg as "structuralvehicles for expression," and he has treated them in different ways, atdifferent points in his career (Oldenburg, quoted in Friedman, 1975, p.1 ). Instead, his primary concern was with the"real" world, an "attachment [that] was so overwhelming as to force him todevise a new way to reintroduce it into art" (Geldzahler, 1985, p. From the time that he began tocollect bits of urban trash, to the day that he began to present suchobjects on a colossal scale, Oldenburg has consistently made viewers take afresh look at his beloved objects. But, this would meanthat Oldenburg's art was inaccessible, in some sense, and this is not aterm that seems appropriate to the work. One of the bestknown of the public sculptures is the Clothespin (1976) at Philadelphia(Senie, 1992, p. 27). The Pop artists were interested in theways in which mass culture imposed itself via various objects. 73). 112). The possible interpretations of the forms in Clothespin need not belimited by anything but the viewers' imaginations. Thus, in 1961, Oldenburg rented an ordinary shop, on the Lower EastSide, which became the installation known as The Store (1961). Clothespin can be viewed either as a single figure, standingwith legs spread, or an intertwined couple. 63). 1 ). At the very least,they imply the power of appetites to overwhelm human beings, so that"appetite and repulsion are built into the same object" (Hughes, 198 , p.357). Most viewersappreciated the humor in the notion that one could "make anything into highart literally by inflating it" (Perl, 1995, p. The second interpretation wasemphasized by Oldenburg, who explained that he had in mind ConstantinBrancusi's The Kiss, "because both contained two structures pressing closetogether and held in an embrace" (quoted in Friedman, 1975, p. (1985). In M. Contemporary public sculpture: Tradition, transformation, and controversy. As Compton noted, Oldenburg was conscious of the concept of "sexas the greatest threat to the bourgeoisie," and his eroticized objectsembody a critique of middle-class America, along with their playful humor(197 , p. In 1976,Oldenburg married Coosje van Bruggen, who became his collaborator. 196) shows, Oldenburg also reworked the basicform in many ways. These performances were constructed around "thesame combination of an intense feeling for the physical presence of objectswith a total freedom in reading or reacting to them" (Compton, 197 , p.112). 89). theartist's supposed capacity to discover reality" (quoted in Kirshner, 1977,p. Pop art. Thus,the metaphorical content that Oldenburg perceived in his objects, and theexpressive intent behind their transformation and recreation, had little incommon with the cool attitudes of Pop and Dada. Though Oldenburg's subsequent monumental works lack such overtpolitical content, the eroticizing of mundane objects continued to be afeature of both the unrealizable and the realized works. In Haunted House, for example, the show was "a metaphorfor the return to the gallery," in which Oldenburg threw "totally rejectedobjects" in through the apparently broken windows of the museum (Oldenburg,quoted in Glimcher, 1992, p. As Oldenburg explained, the overall pointof the installation was "the repeated discovery of that form in all sortsof vague objects in a variety of materials" (quoted in Kirshner, 1977, p.3). Instead, the emphasis was on formalaspects of the transformation of the object. In such a "potentiallyendless chain of substitutions" the object is seen as endlessly changeable,and, thus, "a male body part fuses with an inanimate object and the objectfuses with a female body part," and so on (Haywood, 1995, p. (198 ). The Museum was an enclosed structure,displayed within a museum, which held a variety of unaltered objects,altered objects, and studio productions, many of them related to theGeometric Mouse image, another of Oldenburg's persistent themes. But, as "Empire" ("Papa") Ray Gun(1959) (Fineberg, 1995, p. 3). Oldenburg's attraction to such objects, however, was based on thepotential he saw in them for transformation and expression. Livingstone (Ed.), Pop art: An international perspective (pp. 198). Mostof these projects were never intended to be built. 1 ). Oldenburg's desire to register a social protest was also at the heartof his first monumental sculpture. The Readymades included such objects as a bicycle wheel, a snowshovel, and a urinal which "sent up centuries of icy marbles" (Perl, 1995,p. (Ed.). But, the dominant sexuality of theimage is not the only quality Oldenburg saw in it. The found objects were displayed in flat cases,and the viewer looked down on them, seeing them "just as the fragments werefound" (Kirshner, 1977, p. Having morespace to fill than usual, Oldenburg was perplexed about what to do in thegallery. 356). (1991). Art since 194 : Strategies of being. Despite the fact that a work such as Soft Dormeyer Mixer canaccurately be described as "an extraordinary glimpse of an ordinary object,humorously eroticized into a double entendre with the human body," suchworks also possess more serious, politicized meanings (Fineberg, 1995, pp.2 1-2 2). 7-19). Oldenburg worked for a short time as a lay-out man andillustrator, and then moved to New York in 1954. These works are interesting, but they lack the excitementand originality of the earlier approaches to the same problems. LikeDubuffet, Oldenburg was attracted to the idea of making art out of what hecalled "the impossible, the discredited, the different" (Oldenburg, quotedin Fineberg, 1995, p. The RayGun Wing was an attached installation, in the shape of a Ray Gun, in whichOldenburg displayed hundreds of gun-shaped objects, including works fromThe Street and The Store. In his first show, held at the Judson Gallery in 1959, Oldenburgcreated various White Objects made with several kinds of paper. And, the irregular edges of the pieces "suggest the violence withwhich they have been ripped from their visual context," as Oldenburg soughtto create an overall impression of the fragmented nature of individualperception (Fineberg, 1995, p. Pop art: An international perspective. But, American artists of the early 196 s did notlimit themselves to the subjects favored by older art traditions that hadfocused on illusionistic replication of the visual world. He was employed as alibrarian at the Cooper Union art school, and worked at getting his careerunder way. Since 1976, works such as Haunted House, (1987), for the Museum HausEsters, have continued the categorizing, installation-oriented aspect ofOldenburg's work. 197). In the early years, heoften "seem[ed] to want to get away from art altogether and concern himselfonly with things" (Compton, 197O, p. One of the best examples of this approach is the series of variationsOldenburg worked on the Dormeyer Mixer. 199), and variousworking drawings such as an unnumbered notebook page, Dormeyer Mixer (1965)(Fineberg, 1995, p. p.: International Cultural Corporation of Australia.Glenn, C. (1992). 13). 1 ). Another use of the Ray Gun image was Oldenburg's 1977 installation,The Mouse Museum/The Ray Gun Wing. 57). 2 1), on which a sketch of the mixer is joined bycollaged elements in which the shape of the mixer's blades is reflected ina woman's breasts and the lapels of a woman's suit jacket. The objects were common things such asa Cap (Livingstone, 1991, p. The loosely splashed onpaint, and the chunky shapes of the objects, for example, "emphasise[d] thereality of paint, as against its capacity to create illusion," therebyrelating Oldenburg's work to Abstract Expressionism (Compton, 197 , p.1 5). Though he usedunaltered objects on occasion, as parts of large-scale installations,Oldenburg preferred to "rebuil[d] the whole thing, and that way [he] had itboth ways. In doing so, heprovides his audience with fresh views of the world and of art. 2 1). In eithercase, the combination of the phallic, but female-associated, lipstick withthe military tank was seen as a comment on the misdirected energies ofAmerican society. Oldenburg said, for example, thatthe Gun "stands for vision, the power of 'seeing through walls,' i.e. In Claes Oldenburg [Exhibition catalogue], (pp. (197 ). In1977, the pair decided "to concentrate exclusively on large public works,"and, from that point on, they worked together on all the public sculptures--though Oldenburg also returned to "the stream of more intimate, subjective,indoor work" on his own after 1984 (Oldenburg, quoted in Glimcher, 1992, p.1 ). There are several objects to which Oldenburg has returned,repeatedly, over the years. It wasgiven a metal tip by the artist, and reinstalled in 1974. 51). R. 1 5). (1995). Itwas not until 1965, when Oldenburg "inaugurated a sequence of softmechanical devices," that he returned to investing his objects with overtsexual meanings (Fineberg, 1995, p. [Exhibition catalogue]. 1 ). London: Hamlyn.Fineberg, J. Oldenburg shared many interests and influences withthe major Pop artists, but was less interested in the packaging andcommercialization of America. Duchamp'sReadymades, for example, were anti-art, ordered from stores and installedin gallery spaces in the same manner as the works of painters andsculptors. 11 ). Other old problems were also re-addressed. 89). Oldenburg and van Bruggen have realized more than 25 of theseprojects, which are usually constructed in urban spaces. Thenew Pop Art responded to the commercialized environment that these artistsobserved around them. Like Dada artists,Oldenburg used humor in the presentation of objects whose standing as 'art'relied entirely on their placement in art spaces. In a 1965 drawing, Proposed Colossal Monumentfor Central Park North, New York City: Teddy Bear (Fineberg, 1995, p. (1977). Claes Oldenburg's sculpture, in which ordinary objects aretransformed by radical changes in scale and the use of unexpectedmaterials, has become one of the most widely known bodies of contemporaryart work. When the show closed, hebegan to use the space to present Happenings, inspired by those of AllanKaprow and Red Grooms. In the "Ghost" Version(so-called because they lack the 'realistic' colors and smooth finish ofthe vinyl works), four mixers are suspended from a wooden rod. The hand-made quality of this irregularobject, and its clear reference to male genitalia, provide an early exampleof Oldenburg's tendency to rework common objects in a manner that lent themorganic, specifically human, qualities. The dark tones of TheStreet were set aside, and The Store's objects were brightly painted, usingonly 7 colors of household-enamel paint. 26-3 .Senie, H. And, in asimilar way, Dadaists, such as Marcel Duchamp, were concerned with the waysin which traditional high art imposed itself on society. Art in the kitchen: Oldenburg's alterations. New Republic, pp. 2 2),for example, a seated toy bear towers over the park and the skyline. These works, which were made ofcanvas, painted with synthetic polymer and stuffed with foam rubber andcardboard boxes, were an immediate hit with audiences. 1 7). Pop art. 53). Thiscritique of the museum and gallery presentation of his work was anotherpersistent theme throughout Oldenburg's career. 54). The original found object, and others like it, have beenincluded in various installations. While it is true that the averageviewer might not make the connection to Brancusi's work, there is no reasonwhy he or she would not see the two embracing figures that Oldenburg sees.And, as with all his works, even if the viewer did not appreciate the finerpoints of Oldenburg's references, or take in their erotic meanings orpolitical critiques, the humor of the piece is intact. The use of"cheap and debased materials," such as newspaper, and the "deliberatelyprimitive contours" of the roughly-made objects, reveal his acknowledgeddebt to the French painter Jean Dubuffet (Compton, 197 , p. By 1959, however, Oldenburg hadabandoned the human figure as his primary subject, and moved on to the useof ordinary objects--a course he has followed for nearly 4 years. 26-29). New York: Oxford University Press. 3). Oldenburg made a number of oversized, stuffed burlap objects for theHappenings, and, on selling two of them to a collector, he began to thinkof himself as a sculptor rather than a painter. 27). [Exhibition catalogue]. F. A good example ofsuch an "inherently undramatic subject" is the Ray Gun image, based on adiscarded toy Oldenburg found on the streets in the late 195 s (Friedman,1975, p. It was a work of art and an object" (Oldenburg, quoted inFriedman, 1975, p. From perfectly ordinary beginnings, the objects have assumed a wealthof meanings as Oldenburg works his variations on them. In this work, which is credited to Oldenburg alone,the artist again endowed the sculpture with the "subliminal figuralquality" that had characterized many of his soft sculptures (Friedman,1975, p. Yet, the 1962 works do not possess the anthropomorphic overtones thatare found in earlier works such as "Empire" ("Papa") Ray Gun (1959). (1966). Instead, artistssuch as Andy Warhol and James Rosenquist took elements of popular culture--movies, billboards, magazines, commercial products--as their subjects. This influence was even more pronounced inOldenburg's next show, The Street (1959). Oldenburg was one of a number of artists who reacted againstAbstract Expressionism's domination of American art in the 195 s. R. Oldenburgcreated over 1 objects, made of painted plaster, and displayed them inthe space as if they were for sale. (1995, December 11). N. And, in Pop, objects and images were nottransformed "by means of elaborate alteration of the images themselves, butas a result of their filtering through the highly individual choice ofcommercial processes" employed by the artists (Glenn, 1991, p. He graduated from YaleUniversity in 195 , and enrolled in the School of the Art Institute ofChicago in 1952. The sexualreference is inescapable, as their blades lie flat against the wall, andthe mixers' handles drop backward, over the blades, like semi-erect peniseshovering over sets of testicles. Inthe drawings, he proceeded, through a sequence of free associations, torelate the mixer's forms to various objects. In Dada, physical transformation of the object was not necessarilya part of the artists' work. In the first version ofthe work, a lipstick with an inflatable tip was mounted on a movable tank.Unfortunately, the work was frequently vandalized and was removed. Seniecomplained, however, that, while "any metamorphosis seems possible andappropriate," it is only possible to see some of them "if the audience isprivy to the artist's thinking" (Senie, 1992, p. 27). ReferencesCompton, M. The objects were classified and organized according to material, size,and provenance, as Oldenburg demonstrated the qualities that these thingshave in common, while emphasizing the power of institutional presentationsto influence the manner in which people view such mundane objects. 52). There were alsosymbolic aspects of the Ray Gun image. London: British Broadcasting Corporation.Kirshner, J. In response, a group of Yalestudents, faculty, and alumni commissioned The Lipstick (Ascending) onCaterpillar Tracks (1969) (Senie, 1992, p. It is,therefore, only in the area of monumental projects that Oldenburg continuedto produce challenging new work. W. The bed-sized, bed-likequalities of these works may even suggest an extension of the physicalpleasures of food into the realm of sexual pleasure. Oldenburg filled the gallery with works such as the 9 1/2 foot FloorCake (Giant Piece of Cake) (1962) (Fineberg, 1995, p. The garish objects displayed lessof the type of organic transformation found in earlier objects, such as"Empire" ("Papa") Ray Gun (1959). 112). Warhol's Campbell Soupcans and Duchamp's urinal were never meant to speak about the artists, butOldenburg "redefined the found object in his own image" (Fineberg, 1995, p.196). The third degree. 198) and the 1 footFloor Cone (Geldzahler, 1985, p. Oldenburg was born in Stockholm in 1929, and was raised in Chicago,where his father served as Sweden's Consul-General. New York: Pace Gallery.Haywood, R. In the soft sculptures of the 198 s and 199 s, the apparentsoftness of these works disguises the fact that their cloth surfaces arestiffened with metal. 197). Passing an automobile dealer's shop, he decided that he wouldlike to fill the space with objects that were displayed like the cars inthe showroom, and, accordingly, he "enlarged his objects to the size ofcars" (Fineberg, 1995, p. Where the Poppainters chose to "imitate the slick, processed surface of pop culture,"Oldenburg wanted to "touch, squash, stroke, absorb, digest, and become whathe saw, converting the most unlikely objects into metaphors of the body andthe self" (Hughes, 198 , p. (1975). Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art.Lippard, L. The Lipstick wasoriginally perceived as a protest against the university's expenditure offunds on the acquisition of the Mellon Center for British Art--at a timewhen many believed the money could be better spent on more socially-conscious projects. Oldenburg: Six themes. Art in America, 83(1 ), 86-94.Hughes, R. But, this does notdetract from the expressive intention behind Oldenburg's design. London: Rizzoli.Perl, J. [Exhibition catalogue]. 199), the canvas Soft DormeyerMixers--"Ghost" Version (1965) (Fineberg, 1995, p. In SoftDormeyer Mixer, which, at 32 inches tall, is oversized but not gigantic,the pendulous breast shapes are readily apparent--though it is just as easyto read the piece as a reference to male genitalia. But, in 1969, in theera of student protests, the philosopher Herbert Marcuse suggested that ifone of Oldenburg's monument was actually constructed, it would "indeed besubversive" (quoted in Senie, 1992, p. Claes Oldenburg interviewed by Arne Glimcher. 22).From his 1961 environment The Store, through his Happenings and his softsculptures of hamburgers and hand-mixers, up to his monumental sculpturesof clothespins and baseball bats, Oldenburg has consistently pursued thisgoal of reintroducing the everyday object into art. In reference to Soft Dormeyer Mixer, for example, Haywoodhas noted that Oldenburg's transformations might be considered "anarchic,"as, "for a moment, this benign consumer object--a sign of middle-classprosperity and suburban tranquility--becomes an unruly, naked object, anAmerican hermaphrodite" (1995, p. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.