Making the Mundane into the Monumental

Turning the Everyday into the Colossal

As our readers will know, Claes Oldenburg (1929–2022), was a central figure in the Pop Art movement and spent over six decades exploring the power of everyday objects through a wide range of media, including drawing, performance, sculpture, and monumental public installations. Sculpture in the Form of a Trowel Stuck in the Ground (Model), is a maquette for Oldenburg’s iconic trowel sculptures, which reimagine a humble gardening tool as a monumental, surreal object. This work, like many others created in collaboration with his wife Coosje van Bruggen, aimed to transform public spaces by encouraging viewers to reconsider how they engage with their ordinary surroundings when faced with these sculptures.

Oldenburg’s Bridge That Never Was

Screwarch Bridge (State II) demonstrates Oldenburg’s visionary design for the new Willemsbrug over the River Maas in Rotterdam. The design featured two colossal screws arching over the river, symbolising the city’s industrial and maritime identity. Although the bridge was never built, Oldenburg was invited to create a model, sculpture, and etchings based on the bridge concept, all of which were exhibited in 1983 at Museum Boijmans van Beuningen. Many of Oldenburg’s most recognised public monuments were created in collaboration with his wife and artistic partner, Coosje van Bruggen. Their partnership began in 1970 after meeting during his retrospective at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, where van Bruggen was a curator. Currently on view at Shapero Modern is Claes Oldenburg: Multiples, a stunning selling exhibition featuring one of the most complete collections of Oldenburg’s small-scale multiples, alongside a selection of limited edition prints. Together, these artworks reveal Oldenburg’s fascination with reproduction, variation, and the surprising beauty of the ordinary.

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