#claes oldenburg
Happy 88th Birthday, Claes Oldenburg!
One of the most influential artists of the twentieth century, Oldenburg is known for his soft sculptures, performance pieces, and installations, as well as for the many architectural-scale public works he made with his late wife and partner Coosje van Bruggen.
His works transform the scale, function, and shape of familiar objects, allowing viewers to see the ordinary in unexpected ways.
On view in our sculpture garden “Geometric Mouse: Variation I, Scale A” 1971 http://s.si.edu/2jpX11p
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Claes Oldenburg, Installation view of solo exhibition at Green Gallery, New York, September 24–October 20, 1962
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I am for art that is put on and taken off like pants, which develops holes like socks, which is eaten like a piece of pie, or abandoned with great contempt like a piece of shit.
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I am for art you can sit on. I am for art you can pick your nose with or stub your toes on.
I am for art from a pocket, from deep channels of the ear, from the edge of a knife, from the corners of the mouth, stuck in the eye or worn on the wrist.
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I am for an art that tells you the time of day, or where such and such a street is.
I am for an art that helps old ladies across the street.
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I am for the art of bending and kicking metal and breaking glass, and pulling at things to make them fall down.
I am for the art of punching and skinned knees and sat-on bananas. I am for the art of kids’ smells.
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I am for the art of things lost or thrown away, coming home from school.
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- Claes Oldenburg
![art[+]work[s]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/avatar_0a94d21027a1_30.png){kind=avatar}
Claes Oldenburg, Sculpture in the Form of a Match Cover with Loose Matches, Model, 1987
Pool Balls, 1977, Reinforced concrete, Three balls, each 11 ft. 6 in. (3.5 m) diameter, Aaseeterrassen, Münster, Germany, by Coosje van Bruggen and Claes Oldenburg
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