Claes Oldenburg Quotes on Art

Claes Oldenburg was a famous Swedish born American Pop Art sculptor and installation artist. He is best known for his soft sculptures and his oversized outdoor sculptures of everyday items like ice cream cones and garden spades. Famous Claes Oldenburg sculptures include “Spoonbridge and Cherry”, “Clothespin”, “Two Cheeseburgers, with Everything”, “Giant Soft Fan”, “The Bottle of Notes”, and “Els Mistos (Match Cover)”.

Mini biography: Born Claes Oldenburg on the 28th of January, 1929 in Stockholm, Sweden. His mother was Sigrid Elisabeth and his father Gösta Oldenburg was a diplomat. Oldenburg married Patty Mucha in 1960 and they divorced in 1970. He then married Coosje van Bruggen in 1977 until her death in 2009. They collaborated on many works together and they had one child together: Maartje Oldenburg. The artist died on the 18th of July, 2022 in Manhattan, New York, United States of America at the age of 93.

List of Famous Claes Oldenburg Art Quotes

I am for an art that embroils itself with the everyday crap and still comes out on top. Claes Oldenburg

When I am served a plate of food, I see shapes and forms, and I sometimes don’t know whether to eat the food or look at it. Claes Oldenburg

If you’re an architect you have to make changes to suit your client but we present a finished project. Claes Oldenburg

We don’t copy the objects we use, we try to transform them and we hope they go on transforming as you look at them. The idea of endless public dialogue.. visual dialogue.. is very important to us. Claes Oldenburg

It’s always a matter of interpretation, but I tend to look at all my works as being completely pure. Claes Oldenburg

I felt like the Ab Ex (abstract expressionist) painters weren’t saying very much, and I wanted work that would say something, be messy, be a little mysterious. Claes Oldenburg

I am for an art that is political-erotica-mystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum. Claes Oldenburg

A tiny sculpture can be just as powerful as a large one. It’s all really about imagination and fantasy, and that’s very much a part of my outlook in art. Claes Oldenburg

It doesn’t really start with a drawing, but with words. Claes Oldenburg

I want your senses to become very keen to their surroundings. Claes Oldenburg

I am for an art that imitates the human, that is comic, if necessary, or violent, or whatever is necessary. I am for an art that takes its form from the lines of life itself, that twists and extends and accumulates and spits and rips, and is heavy and coarse and blunt and sweet and stupid as life itself. Claes Oldenburg

More on American Artist Claes Oldenburg

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• Famous Pop Artist Claes Oldenburg Dies at 93 – The famous Swedish-born American artist Claes Oldenburg has died at the age of 93. Best known for his over-sized outdoor sculptures of everyday objects like garden hoses, ice cream cones, shuttlecocks, and binoculars, the pop artist made the mundane massive.

Related or similar popular artists and celebrities include: James Rosenquist, Jeff Koons and Yayoi Kusama.