A $650,000 Metaphor for How We Feel Right Now
Claes Oldenburg is known for gigantic sculptures, but don’t forget about his smaller pieces.
Pop artist Claes Oldenburg has been distorting the dimensions of objects for more than half a century, nudging viewers to reexamine the totems of everyday life. His most recognizable works are large-scale sculptures: a 39-foot-tall overturned ice cream cone atop a shopping mall in Cologne, Germany, for instance, or a 45-foot steel clothespin in downtown Philadelphia. But Oldenburg, who collaborated for decades with his late wife, the artist Coosje van Bruggen, is also adept at playing with smaller shapes. The duo’s 50-inch Tied Trumpet (2004) distills their sculpture practice at a more manageable scale.
• Roy Lichtenstein turned out hundreds of bright, home-appropriate sculptures, many in editions of six or fewer. Last year a 44-inch bronze sculpture of a head sold for $800,000 at Phillips in New York.