Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg
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Full Name and Common Aliases
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Claes Thure Oldenburg was a renowned Swedish-American artist known for his large-scale public sculptures that transformed everyday objects into monumental works of art.
Birth and Death Dates
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Born on January 28, 1929, in Stockholm, Sweden, Claes Oldenburg passed away on July 18, 2022, at the age of 93.
Nationality and Profession(s)
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Nationality: Swedish-American
Profession: Artist, Sculptor, Printmaker
Early Life and Background
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Claes Oldenburg was born into a family of modest means. His father was an engineer, and his mother was a homemaker. Growing up in Sweden during the Great Depression, Oldenburg developed a fascination with everyday objects and materials. He began drawing and making sculptures at an early age, inspired by the works of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.
In 1946, Oldenburg moved to the United States to study art at the Art Students League in New York City. However, he soon became disillusioned with traditional fine arts programs and began exploring other mediums, including printmaking and sculpture.
Major Accomplishments
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Oldenburg's most notable accomplishment was his ability to transform mundane objects into iconic sculptures that captured the imagination of the public. His works often featured oversized versions of everyday items such as lipsticks, food, and household appliances.
Some of Oldenburg's most famous pieces include:
"Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks," a 1969 sculpture featuring a giant lipstick on tank-like tracks
"Soft Toilet," a 1976 sculpture depicting a gigantic toilet made from foam rubber
* "Skyscraper," a 1964 sculpture of a massive skyscraper constructed from cardboard and wood
Notable Works or Actions
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Oldenburg's most notable works often involved collaboration with other artists, including his wife, Coosje van Bruggen. Together, they created numerous sculptures that celebrated the beauty of everyday objects.
One of their most famous collaborations was "Typewriter Eraser, Scale X," a 1999 sculpture featuring a giant eraser made from stainless steel and aluminum. The piece was intended to be an ironic commentary on the importance of language in modern society.
Impact and Legacy
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Claes Oldenburg's impact on modern art cannot be overstated. His ability to transform everyday objects into monumental works of art has influenced generations of artists, including Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons.
Oldenburg's legacy extends beyond his own artwork. He helped to popularize the concept of "pop art," which emphasizes the relationship between art and consumer culture.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
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Claes Oldenburg is widely quoted and remembered for his thought-provoking sculptures that challenged the conventional norms of modern art. His ability to transform everyday objects into iconic works of art continues to inspire artists, designers, and curators around the world.
Oldenburg's legacy serves as a reminder that even the most mundane objects can be transformed into something extraordinary with creativity and imagination.
Quotes by Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg's insights on:
They asked me to do a show, and I was planning on showing my figure paintings. But my friends told me I shouldn’t – the paintings were good but a little old-fashioned. They said, “Why don’t you show the other stuff?” I had also been making rather strange objects, more in the Freudian tradition.
I knew I wasn’t that good a writer, and all I could remember was that I could draw. I’m better at drawing than I am at writing.
I was very happy to be living in New York at that time, more than in the present time. Now it’s all commerce.
I knew I had to take my ambition more seriously, so I enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago. Then, in the fall, I went on a tour of my own. I didn’t go to New York because that was too well known for its art scene.
I just started to do my own thing for about a year and a half, and I worked in the evening selling phonograph records. Then I said to myself, “I’m afraid I have to go to New York after all.”
Of course, the ’60s was a study in decadence. Everything just got worse and worse, and at the end of the ’60s, everything was so horrible that people were killing each other.
The sexual is part of everything, and it’s highly formalized. I hadn’t done figure for a long time. And I thought to myself, “Why not the erotic figure?”
I had no idea what art was. There was one art class in high school, but it didn’t make a big impression on me. Then I went to college and thought I’d become a writer.
When you’re working with an object, you can put in almost anything you want, you can make it abstract.
I always knew America was all about guns. You go to the movies as a kid, everybody’s got a gun.