CLAES OLDENBURG

Claes Oldenburg and Arne Glimcher at Pace Gallery, New York, 2021. Courtesy Pace Gallery

Pace Gallery have announced the sad passing of the Swedish-born American artist Claes Oldenburg, on Monday July 18, aged 93.

Oldenburg, often collaborating with his wife Coosje van Bruggen, was best known for his large-scale pop-art sculptures of everyday objects, which have brightened up so many urban spaces, all over the world: a monumental black clothespin in Philadelphia, huge flying bowling pins in Eindhoven; a giant book of matches in Barcelona; a cast-iron, chewed-up apple core in Jerusalem and, closer to home (and my favourite) a 30-foot Bottle of Notes, often used as a climbing frame by Middlesbrough children. 

Another major theme in his work was soft sculpture versions of everyday objects.

Pace founder and Chairman Arne Glimcher, who was a friend and associate of Oldenburg for over 60 years, made this statement: “I was honoured to have this great friendship with one of the most radical artists of the 20th century. In addition to his inextricable role in the development of Pop Art, he changed the very nature of sculpture from hard to soft, and his influence can be seen to this day.”