Sculpture or Three-dimensional Work by Foreign Artist
Inventory Number
88-SF-006
Claes Oldenburg was a Swedish-born American artist. He created public sculptures tinged with humor that reproduced familiar objects like ice cream cones or laundry pegs in surprising materials and at surprising scales.
This black mass, which resembles a large car tire or balloon, is in fact based on the letter "Q." Noting that "a Q with its tail buried wouldn’t be a Q at all," Oldenburg flipped it upside down. A letter that should be representable with lines only instead bulges outwards, and the hole in the center is transformed into a navel-like depression, making it look like a mysterious life form with its head protruding. Reflecting ourselves and the scenery around us in its glossy curved surface, this mysterious "Q" lures us into a labyrinth of questions.
(SAKAMOTO Kyoko)
Claes Oldenburg was a Swedish-born American artist. He created public sculptures tinged with humor that reproduced familiar objects like ice cream cones or laundry pegs in surprising materials and at surprising scales.
This black mass, which resembles a large car tire or balloon, is in fact based on the letter "Q." Noting that "a Q with its tail buried wouldn’t be a Q at all," Oldenburg flipped it upside down. A letter that should be representable with lines only instead bulges outwards, and the hole in the center is transformed into a navel-like depression, making it look like a mysterious life form with its head protruding. Reflecting ourselves and the scenery around us in its glossy curved surface, this mysterious "Q" lures us into a labyrinth of questions.
(SAKAMOTO Kyoko)