Claes Oldenburg Sculptures and Pop Art Exhibition at MoMA
Claes Oldenburg, whom the New York Times recently called "one of the last surviving giants of Pop Art", has made a career of creating true showstoppers.
Think of the giant Spoonbridge and Cherry in Minneapolis, or the giant Binoculars at Venice Beach, or the giant Clothespin in Philadelphia. They stop you dead in your tracks. They make you smile. They are sculptures you never forget. So it's no surprise that the just-opened Claes Oldenberg MoMA exhibition is a classic crowd-pleaser, filled with surprise and delight. But because the show focuses on the Oldenberg's earliest works, the pleasures here are (sometimes) more subtle than you might expect.
Claes Oldenburg MoMA exhibition
The Claes Oldenburg MoMA exhibition is divided into two parts, equally excellent. On the museum's sixth floor gallery you'll find works from two of Oldenburg's first-ever major shows here in New York City, where the Swedish artist has lived and worked since the mid 1950s. For The Street, which was originally shown in the basement of Judson's Church in 1959, Oldenburg sought to "bring the urban outdoors indoors", and succeeded in brilliant fashion. These large sculptural pieces–of, among other things, a monster in a mini skirt, a tenement building, a gun–have been forged in ragged cardboard, chicken wire, and plastered newspaper. There's a gritty, almost sinister edge to these, but there's also a good deal of affection in evidence, and even humor. This was my favorite part of the whole show. Maybe.
Claes Oldenburg MoMA exhibition
Because behind The Street at MoMA is Oldenburg's also-awesome The Store, which first appeared in an actual, working East Village market, and featuring dozens of common objects–food, clothing, supplies–done up in plaster or papier mache and splattered with bold-colored paint. At the time, in 1961, Oldenburg made new pieces for The Store almost every day. How cool would it have been to experience that in real time? Very cool, is the correct answer. And there are a few of Oldenburg's first real giant works here as well, including a hamburger and an ice cream cone, which he had to make "soft", using fabric and foam rubber, to keep the weight of the things manageable. These were initially placed in a window on 57th Street, to the wonder and delight of Midtown passers-by.
Claes Oldenburg MoMA exhibition
In MoMA's massive atrium are two more Oldenburg classics, Mouse Museum and Ray Gun Wing. Sealed off in black, appropriately-shaped galleries, both of these are crammed with wonderfully relevant found objects. Mouse Museum is what it says it is, a museum as curated by mice, real and cartoon. Part of the fun is finding the mouse-logic behind each item. And Ray Gun Wing is Oldenburg's astonishing collection of ray guns and ray gun-looking things, like driftwood, scraps of metal, a soiled glove, dozens more. Because of their limited capacity and the sheer number of "art works" to look at once you're inside, there are likely to be long lines to get into these. But if you can spend the time waiting (and looking, when you get in) they are fantastic.
Claes Oldenburg MoMA exhibition
Posted in NYC Events | Tagged Claes oldenburg hamburger • Claes oldenburg moma • Claes oldenburg pop art • Claes oldenburg sculptures • Claes oldenburg the store • Claes oldenburg the street • Moma exhibition
