|
|
Post by t-bob on Jul 19, 2022 12:41:21 GMT -5
Famed Swedish-born Claes Oldenburg, who made everyday objects like a hamburger, a clothespin, a Swiss Army knife, and a badminton shuttlecock into giant monumental objects, has died at age 93.
Schooled at Yale and the Art Institute of Chicago, Oldenburg became a US citizen in 1953 and moved to New York in 1956. His first shows were in New York in the early 60s when so-called “Pop Art” art based on popular culture was breaking out.
Bigness was his signature. His steel clothespin installed vertically in Philadelphia is 45 feet tall. Over time, he installed a giant bow and arrow near the base of the San Francisco Bay Bridge, a big red gardener’s trowel in Des Moines and, one of his notable pieces, a curved spoon spanning a pond with a big red cherry on the tip at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.
|
|
|
|
Post by billhammond on Jul 19, 2022 12:54:23 GMT -5
|
|
Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 20,484 
|
Post by Dub on Jul 19, 2022 13:38:30 GMT -5
|
|
Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 20,484
|
Post by Dub on Jul 19, 2022 13:50:39 GMT -5
Crusoe Umbrella: Oldenburg together with Coosje van Bruggen. Also in Des Moines.  |
|
|
|
Post by Cornflake on Jul 19, 2022 13:52:25 GMT -5
I always thought his work was fun, which to me is a good thing.
|
|
|
|
Post by billhammond on Jul 19, 2022 13:57:46 GMT -5
I always thought his work was fun, which to me is a good thing. For some adventurous couples, "Spoonbridge and Cherry" makes an exciting late-night locale for carnal delights (I am told). |
|
|
|
Post by Marty on Jul 19, 2022 14:28:41 GMT -5
Oh, that f***ing thing. My first thought when they put it up was "You paid HOW much for THAT?" |
|
|
|
Post by jdd2 on Jul 19, 2022 15:29:55 GMT -5
But Is it really art...?
|
|
|
|
Post by dradtke on Jul 19, 2022 18:11:16 GMT -5
We almost had a contract to build a model of the Spponbridge and Cherry for a store window display -- it was too expensive so they went with a graphic instead. Too bad, I loved the concept of building a miniature Claes Oldenburg.
|
|
|
|
Post by billhammond on Jul 19, 2022 18:19:52 GMT -5
Let's just call it pottery and leave it at that.  I've always kinda been dismayed by how that sculpture has to so many people become the symbol of Minneapolis. How about the Stone Arch Bridge, Chain of Lakes, the downtown skyline?   |
|
|
|
Post by jdd2 on Jul 19, 2022 18:27:44 GMT -5
... ... Collaborative art. (tho that's too bell curvy for most) And really, who got paid for putting that up? Oldenburg was paid for his stuff "work" as being art, so it must be. |
|
|
|
Post by jdd2 on Jul 19, 2022 18:29:34 GMT -5
[... One arch is art, the rest should be numbered as replicas. |
|
|
|
Post by billhammond on Jul 19, 2022 18:30:26 GMT -5
It was a commissioned piece by an enlightened local arts patron, who to his credit, also set up a fund to maintain it properly. The cherry was removed last year, shipped to Connecticut and underwent a complete refinishing and repainting.
|
|
|
|
Post by jdd2 on Jul 19, 2022 18:30:39 GMT -5
Of maybe that's art like a song with the longest possible fade out.
|
|
|
|
Post by Village Idiot on Jul 19, 2022 19:45:28 GMT -5
Crusoe Umbrella: Oldenburg together with Coosje van Bruggen. Also in Des Moines. If any of you are every in Iowa, which I doubt any of you will ever be, the sculpture park downtown is really worth a look. Or better yet, the 4 and a 1/2 acre park is really worth a long afternoon stroll.  |
|
|
|
Post by epaul on Jul 19, 2022 20:07:11 GMT -5
Don't forget Willie...  |
|
|
|
Post by epaul on Jul 19, 2022 20:11:03 GMT -5
[by a different artist]
|
|
|
|
Post by Village Idiot on Jul 19, 2022 20:28:03 GMT -5
You folks who are Vinton Iowa locals or who are Idiotjammers of old remember Brian Parr. He did the big muskie sculpture in Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin.  Then did a big walleye for Vinton. In his driveway:  And then at it's permanent home, along the Cedar River:  |
|
|
|
Post by billhammond on Jul 19, 2022 20:42:13 GMT -5
You should load Brian into your oldsters' tour bus next time around and do a guided circuit of his greatest hits! Sure beats the plywood Brandon frying pan.
|
|
|
|
Post by Cornflake on Jul 19, 2022 20:56:27 GMT -5
"I've always kinda been dismayed by how that sculpture has to so many people become the symbol of Minneapolis. How about the Stone Arch Bridge, Chain of Lakes, the downtown skyline?"
Maybe they're not as much fun.
|
|
