CLAES OLDENBURG
1970 – 1976 In the 1970s with the advent of new mediums in his work
Tracks (fig 25), commissioned by the graduate students of
and an enlarged and eventually monumental scale, Old-
architecture at Yale—was realized that year. The initial ver-
enburg embarked on a period of technological expansion.
sion was installed (on Ascension Day) before the Corinthian
While still making unique soft sculptures during this period,
colonnade of a World War I memorial in Yale’s Beinecke Plaza,
he was also involved in making the production of prints and
but soon fell into disrepair. The sculpture was reconstructed
multiple sculptures as well as large-scale outdoor works that
in metal by Lippincott in 1974 and given a permanent campus
increasingly involved the participation of technical fabrica-
site at Samuel F. B. Morse College.
tors. “The joy of my work is to see the object develop out
Oldenburg was determined to execute a large sculpture
of the interaction between materials and people,” the artist
that incorporated the condition of softness, so he decided
has explained.” Oldenburg had frequently collaborated with
to collaborate with Krofft Enterprises in Burbank, California
other artists, but in the early 1970s, his artistic production
and Gemini G.E.L. to the sixteen-and-a-half-foot-high Giant
began to oscillate more and more between collaborative
Ice Bag. The artist’s first motorized construction, Giant Ice
episodes of public sculpture and printmaking and periods
Bag, slowly tilts and twists in a constant state of “mecha-
of the more private and subjective activity of drawing. This
nized metamorphosis.”The sculpture grew out of the Art and
remarkably productive time was also one of increasing rec-
Technology program organized by the Los Angeles County
ognition for Oldenburg. A retrospective of his work opened
Museum of Art, through which Oldenburg worked informally
at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in September
for a time with Walt Disney Enterprises. In 1970, Giant Ice
1969 and subsequently traveled to three locations in Europe.
Bag was sent to Osaka to be shown in the United States
Between 1971 and 1973, a second large exhibition, Claes
Pavilion Expo ‘70, which opened in March. Oldenburg’s many
Oldenburg: Object into Monument, organized by the Pasa-
associations with this shape were presented in a 1969 film,
dena Art Museum, was seen in seven American cities. While
sort of a commercial for an Icebag, directed by Michael Hugo,
Oldenburg spent most of his time in New York, he traveled
filmed by Eric Saarinen, and produced by Gemini G.E.L. The
extensively to Europe and to Los Angeles, where he had a
film was expanded in 1970 and renamed Possibly a Special
studio between July and September 1970. In March 1971, he
for the Bag.
purchased two connected loft buildings on Broome Street New York, where he still lives and works.
When Oldenburg’s solo retrospective opened at the Museum of Modern Art, Geometric Mouse, Scale A (fig. 22),
In May 1969, after separating from Pat, Oldenburg set up
had recently been fabricated at Lippincott, Inc., and was
studio in a New Haven warehouse, where he could collabo-
installed in the museum’s sculpture garden. More than any
rate with nearby Lippincott, Inc. on large-scale sculptures.
other image invented by Oldenburg, the many permutations
His feasible monument—Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar
of Geometric Mouse show an exercise in the effect of scale.
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