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Claes Oldenburg
Fire Plug Souvenir - "Chicago August 1968" (P. 10), Claes Oldenburg
1968

Name: Fire Plug Souvenir - "Chicago August 1968" (P. 10), Claes Oldenburg
Brand: Claes Oldenburg
Price: 24000 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Artist: Claus Oldenburg (1929) Title: Fire Plug Souvenir - "Chicago August 1968" (P. 10) Year: 1968 Medium: Cast plaster multiple with acrylic paint Edition: 75/100 Size: Sculpture, 7.88 x 7.5 x 5.88 inches inches Condition: Excellent Inscription: initialed in black felt-tip pen and numbered 75/100 on the underneath bottom base Notes: In October 1968, the Richard Feigen Gallery in Chicago organized an exhibition to protest mayor Richard J. Daley’s brutal response to demonstrations at the Democratic National Convention the previous August. I was asked to make a multiple object that could be sold to benefit the American Civil Liberties Union, which had handled the cases of those arrested. I wanted to make a sort of souvenir of the August events, the kind that is sold at airports or that one takes home from a carnival of a world’s fair and that is normally made out of painted plaster. The subject in this case would not be a Hancock Tower, but a humble subject that is a fixture in every neighborhood, a true multiple of the city – one of Chicago’s characteristic, chunky, red, two-headed fireplugs. The scale I chose was that of a cobblestone, something I associated with revolutionary activity, though the plan to throw one plug through the window to launch the exhibition was never realized. As I made Fire Plug Souvenir- ‘Chicago August 1968,’ it began to look somewhat like a teddy bear, and, like a stuffed animal, it could be set down in different ways. For the opening of the Feigen exhibition fifty of the plugs were arranged in different positions like an unruly crowd, and roses, which seemed a related shape, were scattered over them.” —Claes Oldenburg quoted in Claes Oldenburg: Multiples in Retrospect 1964 – 1990, p.78  CLAUS OLDENBURG (1929) One of the original Pop artists, Claes Oldenburg was born in Stockholm the son of a Swedish diplomat, and spent his early years in Stockholm and Oslo until they moved to Chicago in 1937. He attended Yale University, then returned to Chicago, where he worked for a newspaper and also attended drawing classes at The Art Institute. Oldenburg moved to New York in 1956. His early work in New York was an urban realism in cardboard and paper influenced by the work of Dubuffet and the New Realists, seen as a brutal response to society. In 1961 he rented a storefront on the Lower East Side and sold brightly painted plaster objects, three dimensional and wall reliefs, based on hamburgers, pastries, men's and women's clothing, and other commodities. The signature soft sculptures followed, objects of commonplace household objects made of vinyl or canvas stuffed with kapok. The soft sculptures transformed the medium, and they are intended as sensual experiences and commentary on our material world of objects and our relationship to them. In 1965, still working in vinyl, plaster and cardboard, Oldenburg began making large works termed Colossal Monuments, which are large public sculptures with public and private meanings. Since the 1970's, Oldenburg has fabricated the large-scale works in durable materials such as steel, and working with Coosje van Bruggen, has received many such public commissions in the United States and Europe.

Creator:

Claes Oldenburg (1929, American, Swedish)

Creation Year:

1968

Dimensions:

Height: 7.88 in (20.02 cm)Width: 7.5 in (19.05 cm)Depth: 5.88 in (14.94 cm)

Medium:

Acrylic,Plaster

Movement & Style:

Pop Art

Period:

1960-1969