A product of his time, Oldenburg, like many artists in the Americas and Europe, strove to remove identifiers pointing to his role as creator / artist from his work. The art exists as an entity removed from its originator, fulfilled through the collaborative role of the spectator / viewer and through the metamorphosis of normative, decontextualized objects via the manipulation of size and texture.
American Pop art, in many ways, is consistent with the neo-objecthood of Latin American Neo-Concretism, except that it requires even less initiation into the subject matter. Oldenburg chooses images to which any spectator can relate and react, because they are so common, removing the hierarchical constraints of Western cannonical art. And with works like Giant BLT, 1963 and French Fries and Ketchup, 1963, Oldenburg demonstrates the indicative nature of distinctly American iconographic imagery. That's what we are -- a nation of deli sandwiches and fries. A decade after becoming a naturalized citizen, Oldenburg showed his compliance in his flaccid sculptures showcasing American culture, while bridging the gap between the classes through Pop Art puffery.
The exhibition runs through August 2009.
damn girl that liberal arts education has done you right. i love this post. publish-worthy.
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