Word: clothespins
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...angles just above the rear window of a Plymouth Volare. "Vortex generators," explains a student. The little tabs cause turbulence in the air as it passes over the car, reducing "drag" and saving fuel. "Wanna see another innovation?" pipes another student from under the hood. "How 'bout this clothespin holding on the accelerator cable...
...simple utilitarian objects Oldenburg uses as a foundation for his creation inspire him with affection, even reverence. He says about the clothespin...
...Clothespins are a studio necessity for me. With clothespins I join parts of soft sculpture in preparation for sewing. Clothespins are the instruments of connection which are so important in the fabrication of my work. The most efficient clothespin is the old-fashioned one which has the little spring on it. I prefer the ones made of wood. My studio is full of clothespins. I handle these objects. After a while I begin to see them as much larger structures than they actually are, and think about enlarging them. They have an architectural character, like the three-way plugs which...
Quite literally, Oldenburg envisions these objects--clothespins, or three-way plugs--as monuments. With the exception of the Typewriter Eraser, each has been executed on a colossal scale. These colossi are impressive: a ten-foot clothespin towers up in golden splendour, refined, stripped to bare geometric form; a 20-foot vinyl three-way plug hangs limply from the ceiling, inviting caresses. (In the present exhibit, the larger pieces are at MIT, while the drawings, for the most part, are at the ICA. The MIT part of the exhibit should be seen after the ICA portion, since the large sculptures...
...PRINT, Oldenburg compares his clothespin to Brancusi's sculpture, The Kiss. The form he discovered and liberated sustains the comparison. In fact, the clothespin as Oldenburg has perceived it pushes Brancusi's conception farther than Brancusi does, being more truly two-in-one. The spring presses the two identical pieces of metal more tightly against each other than the encircling arms of Brancusi's stone lovers pull them together. Not only does Oldenburg's structure express a more intimate formal relationship, but his "two" are one--they are made out of one sheet of metal, with a groove down...