Saw, Sawing

Tokyo International Exhibition Center, Big Sight, Tokyo

Steel, epoxy resin, fiber-reinforced plastic, polyurethane and polyvinyl chloride foams; painted with polyester gelcoat 50 ft. 8 in. x 4 ft. 9 in. x 40 ft. (15.4 x 1. 5 x 12.2 m)Commissioned January 1995 by the Tokyo Metropolitan GovernmentInstalled March 1996

At night

Claes Oldenburg (born January 28, 1929) is an American sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions of everyday objects. Many of his works were made in collaboration with his wife, Coosje van Bruggen, who died in 2009 after 32 years of marriage. Oldenburg lives and works in New York.

Claes Oldenburg

• Claes Oldenburg makes sculptures of ordinary objects, and in the process, he changes them in various ways, including their size and scale. Since the early 1960s, he has transformed all kinds of everyday objects, including home and office appliances, food, clothing, and musical instruments. Oldenburg’s soft sculptures, such as a Giant BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Sandwich), encourage us to see familiar things in unexpected ways.

“Everything I do is completely original—I made it up when I was a kid.”

—Claes OldenburgClaes Oldenburg came to the United States from

Sweden when he was a child. To prepare for their arrival in this country, his mother cut out images of items that Americans at that time may have seen or used every day, but that he was not familiar with, and made a notebook of them to help her young son learn about the objects.

Shuttlecocks

Collection The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas CityCommissioned May 1992, by The Nelson Atkins Museum of ArtGift of the Sosland family

Aluminum and fiber-reinforced plastic; painted with polyurethane enamelFour shuttlecocks, each 17 ft. 11 in. (5. 5 m) high x 15 ft. 1 in. (4.6 m) crown diameter and 4 ft. (1.2 m) nose cone diameter, sited in different positions on the grounds of the museum

Installed June 23-July 1, 1994Inaugurated July 6, 1994

Batcolumn

Steel and aluminum painted with polyurethane enamel96 ft. 8 in. (29.5 m) high x 9 ft. 9 in. (3 m) diameter, on base 4 ft. (1.2 m) high x 10 ft. (3.1 m) diameterHarold Washington Social Security Center, 600 West Madison Street, ChicagoCommissioned March 1975 by the Art in Architecture Program of the United States General Services Administration in conjunction with the National Endowment for the ArtsInstalled April 13, 1977Inaugurated April 14, 1977

Photo: Attilio Maranzano

600 West Madison Street, Chicago