Claes Oldenburg bio for children

1. Claes Oldenburg

2. Claes Oldenburg was born in Stockholm, Sweden but came to
the United States and grew up in Chicago, Illinois.
He took classes at The School of
the Art Institute of Chicago.
His first sales of artworks were at
a art street fair in Chicago, he
sold 5 items for a total price of
$25.

3. His first sculptures were soft. Like this sculpture
made of foam and canvas called Soft Bathtub.

4. This picture shows how his sculptures look in an art
gallery.

6. Does this make you hungry?

7. What about Two Cheeseburgers ?
These are made of burlap and plaster.

9. This one is called Lipstick on Caterpillar
Tracks.

10. Claes always carefully drew his ideas.
He began making larger hard sculptures out of metal.

11. He is most famous for the colossal sculptures that he made in
partnership with his late wife, Coosje van Bruggen.

12. Together they designed Spoonbridge and Cherry in
1985.

13. This giant sculpture is in The Minneapolis
Sculpture Garden in Minnesota.

14. This spoon stretches out over a pond.

15. Claes has gigantic sculptures all over
the world.

17. Saw, Sawing (Tokyo, Japan)

19. Badminton (Kansas City, MO)

20. This apple core is in Pennsylvania.

22. Dropped Cone (Cologne, Germany)

23. This giant Free Stamp is in Cleveland,
Ohio.

24. My mother warned me to avoid
things colored red.
--Claes Oldenburg

25. The Giant Rubber Stamp was created by Claes Oldenburg. The 28
feet tall by 48 feet wide stamp was commissioned by the Amoco
Oil Company in 1985. It was intended to be displayed in Amoco's
lobby but ended up in storage in Indiana for seven years. In
1991, it was donated to Cleveland.

26. The word free has several meanings. In this case free
was designed to parallel the freedom of slaves but also
-- because the stamp pressed down on the word free --
that many today still are not free."