Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen brought humor and fun to serious sculpting. The Swedish-born Oldenburg (who grew up in Chicago) and Dutch-born van Bruggen married in 1977 and set up residence in New York City; both became American citizens. They collaborated on what they called “Large-Scale Projects”, creating monumental public art installations featuring mundane items: bowling pins, garden trowel, typewriter eraser, clothespin, bow and arrow, to name just a few. Their sculptures are made of steel and brightly colored. “Dropped Cone” is one of their collaborations that was commissioned for the roof of a department store in the Neumarkt area of Cologne, Germany. The shape of the upside-down ice cream cone (slowly melting over the roof edge) recalls the many church spires in Cologne, which has been called “the city of steeples”. “Dropped Cone” measures 39 feet tall.
January's theme: Sculpture
CLAES OLDENBURG (1929 – 2022) & COOSJE VAN BRUGGEN (1949 - 2009), “Dropped Cone”, 2001. Neumarkt Galerie, Cologne, Germany.
#arthistory #art #sculpture #oldenburg #vanbruggen #icecream
