Claes Oldenburg

"Everything I do is completely original - I made it up when I was a kid." - Claes Oldenburg.

Claes Oldenburg was born in Stockholm but lived in New York, Rye, Oslo and Chicago, when he moved from Sweden to America, his mother made him a notebook full of images of ordinary American things, but of which Oldenburg did not know of. Oldenburg was an American sculptor, lithographer and creator of Happenings. He then studied literature at Yale, but soon after returned to Chicago to en-role in some Art courses. In 1959/60 he started in to make figures, signs and objects out of papier-mâché, sacking and other rough materials, followed in 1961 by objects in plaster and enamel based on items of food and cheap clothing; exhibited these as an environment 'The Store'.

The American sculptor makes ordinary sculptures of normal everyday things but he then changes the size/scale to his own personal liking. He shows us familiar things in unexpected ways.

From 1976 till 2009 Oldenburg together with his wife Cusje Van Bruggen created different things, often inspired by small things for example, lipstick, a spoon, etc. Today these are exhibited all over the world, Asia, Europe and the United States.

The Street - 1960

“The city is a landscape well worth enjoying—damn necessary if you live in the city,” Oldenburg wrote in one of his early notebooks; “Dirt has depth and beauty.” In 1960 Oldenburg sort of created his life by creating one of his works of arts called 'The Street.' From cardboard, burlap, and newspapers he created sculptures inspired by the people of his not-so-nice neighbourhood, by the looks of his piece he really didn't grow up in a pleasant neighbourhood. Walls were covered in anything but cement and everything looks tattered.