Claes Oldenburg.

"I am for an art that takes its form from the lines of life itself, that twists and extends and accumulates and spits and drips, and is heavy and coarse and blunt and sweet and stupid as life itself."

-- Claes Oldenburg, 1961

Claes Oldenburg takes everyday objects as the subject of his sculpture. Because he began his career as a journalist who covered the police beat, he already had a feeling for street life and the experience of the everyday when he began producing fine art. He became part of a growing group of contemporary artists who rejected abstract art as a vehicle for communicating feelings. Although Oldenburg did wish to infuse his sculpture with emotional content, he saw abstract art as an art divorced from life. Oldenburg wanted his art to reflect the disorder, contradictions, irrationality and the ambiguities that are life itself. He remarked that colorful, engaging objects employ humor to relax people and allow him to get serious messages across.

Form, surface, color and the evocation of the human figure are Oldenburg's primary formal concerns. To realize the ultimate shape of an object, Oldenburg reduces it to a combination of simple geometric forms. Oldenburg's generalized shapes are then transformed. He focuses on one of the intrinsic characteristics of the chosen object and then changes it into its opposite. For example, hard objects become soft, small objects become enormous and functional objects become nonfunctional.

Background

Claes Oldenburg was born in Sweden on January 28, 1929. His father was a Swedish diplomat who settled the family in Chicago in 1936. When Oldenburg arrived in Chicago, he spoke no English and communication with other children was difficult. Claes and his younger brother invented a fantasy world called Neubern where the spoken language was a mix of Swedish and English. They developed maps, documents, lists of streets, indexes of exports and imports and they illustrated their files with hundreds of colored scale drawings. Oldenburg once said, "Everything I do is completely original--I made it up when I was a little kid." (Preface to catalogue of Oldenburg's exhibition, Stockholm, Moderna Museet, 1966.)

A later source of inspiration for Oldenburg was scrapbooks of collages that his aunt made for him. She used popular magazine advertisements of food, clothing, appliances and consumer goods. Objects of varying scale were bizarrely juxtaposed. Later, Oldenburg kept his own notebooks of drawings, media images and writings.

After graduation from Yale University, Oldenburg worked as a journalist before becoming a fine artist. Originally he was a figure painter, but he soon abandoned the human form because he felt it limited his self expression. Living and working in New York, he soon joined with other young artists who were looking for ways to challenge the status quo of using abstract painting as "the only legitimate means of expression."

The Store

Oldenburg's opus, The Store, also known as the Ray Gun Manufacturing Co., was located at 107 East Second Street in New York City. Previously, Oldenburg had created The Street, a gritty installation of objects made from the trash he found in the street. The Street highlighted all that is violent, impoverished, and dark about urban life. The Store was a handmade, colorful, consumer-oriented, friendly temple to money and materialistic culture. The Store was open from December 1, 1961 to January 31, 1962. Its inventory consisted of Oldenburg's recreations of cheap underwear, sleazy dresses, and deli food that mirrored the goods sold in the neighborhood. Each item sported a price tag. A "Vulgar" Pie sold for $124.95. The Store created a total work of art that combined painting, sculpture, architecture, theatrical display, setting and lighting. Art consumers shopped in The Store and their commerce was an integral part of the work of art itself.

After The Store closed, the space was used for a series of theatrical productions called Store Days. Many of the objects were used as props. Later The Store was recreated at the Green Gallery, in the heart of the art establishment. Walking in the vicinity of the gallery, Oldenburg noticed the way automobiles filled a car showroom and he decided to enlarge some of the objects to the size of cars to impressively fill the Green gallery.

The Object

Pie a la Mode, 1962 is one object from The Store. Oldenburg fashioned the sculpture out of wire, muslin and plaster. He used layers of enamel paint to give the work color and its shiny texture. It is oversized, drippy, gaudy, sensuous, and vulgar. Some critics have interpreted this work as a serious representation of the greedy consumer culture, where "too much" is never enough. Other critics at the time were upset with Oldenburg's repudiation of abstraction. They felt he created simple art for simple minds. Oldenburg wanted to make art that was accessible to everyone on their own terms. He encouraged his audience to bring their own experiences to his work and to associate and discover whatever they could about the form and meaning of his work. In 1961, Oldenburg wrote, "It is important to me that a work of art be constantly elusive, mean many different things to many different people ... What I care most about is its living possibilities."

Questions to Think About

How does this sculpture look different from the way food really looks? What would this pie taste like? What might Oldenburg be saying about the American population's relationship to food? When Oldenburg set up The Store, in what ways was he challenging the art market system? (Selling directly to the public; bringing art to the community; including shoppers in the artwork; making it dramatically clear that despite its status, art was a commodity that is bought and sold just like any household good.)

Elementary School 

Imagine yourself sitting, fork in hand, in front of this piece of pie and ice cream. How would it smell? How would it taste? How would it feel to eat this pie? What would it sound like in your mouth? Write a short poem or story about your experience.

Middle School

Create a series of sketches that reveal one of the ways Claes Oldenburg thought about objects. First, draw just the simplified contour of an everyday object. Now study the shape and discover what other object it might remind you of. Transform your contour drawing into the second object. (Example, Ping-Pong paddle=popsicle=balloon.) How might you transform your object further? Think about texture, color, materials, and scale. What materials would you use? Where might you put your finished sculpture?

High School

Some art historians consider Oldenburg's artwork from The Store to be work that served as a bridge between the art movement called Abstract Expressionism and the movement called Pop Art. Research the meanings of Pop Art and Abstract Expression. Examine the art of Abstract Expressionists Jackson Pollock, Frank Kline and Willem deKooning. Examine the Pop Art works of Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist and Roy Lichtenstein. Compare Oldenburg's work to the artists above, then explain how Pie a la Mode could serve as a bridge between the two movements.

Pop Art draws its name from the word popular. It was used in the 1950s by critic Lawrence Alloway. It became the best word to describe art with a positive attitude toward contemporary popular culture and art which referenced popular images. Comic strips, ads, and billboards were among sources used by pop artists. Most pop artists adapted the imagery and also the techniques of commercial and applied art. Oldenburg differed from other pop artists in that he used traditional art techniques.

Suzanne Isken is the Coordinator of School and Teacher Programs at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California.