Claes Oldenburg

📖 The Scoop

"The multiple form is in many ways one of the most appealing aspects of the work of the American Pop artist Claes Oldenburg. Related to the print, the multiple is understood to refer to a small sculpture produced in a relatively large edition. All of Oldenburg's multiples, along with their production histories, are presented here for the first time. Avidly sought after by collectors today, these works range from the first multiple, the California Ray Guns, of 1963-64, to the present, and include a new multiple, The Soap at Baton Rouge, conceived in 1990 as a dissolved remainder of a fantastic proposal for the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, in the form of a colossal bar of Ivory Soap. Oldenburg's multiples represent Pop art in its quintessence, challenging the idea of status and exclusivity in art and the limitation of the dissemination of artistic concepts. Oldenburg's multiples, however, are a natural outgrowth of his sculptural concerns in general - the pleasure of recognition of familiar objects, humor, and sensuality. Thus, the multiples - plaster-cast, vacuum-formed, produced in gelatin molds - include works like the Wedding Souvenir of 1966, a repeated single slice of wedding cake; London Knees 1966 (from 1968), the many-echoed sawed-off pair of legs from a mannequin; and the fanciful Geometric Mouse, from the 1970s. In addition to Oldenburg's own notes on his multiples, this publication includes a provocative introductory essay, a complete catalogue raisonné, and a bibliography." --

Genre: Art / History / Contemporary (1945-) (fancy, right?)