Sculptor’s drawings on display at free gallery show

See it at Pepperdine University in Malibu




The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University is presenting "Claes Oldenburg: Drawings, 1959-1977" and "Claes Oldenburg with Coosje van Bruggen: Drawings, 1992-1998, in the Whitney Museum of American Art" now through Aug. 8.


The exhibition will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays on the campus at 24255 Pacific Coast Hwy., Malibu. There’s no admission charge to the gallery.


This exhibition of more than 75 drawings follows the career of one of the most successful sculptors and influential Pop artists of the 20th Century. It surveys his life as an artist, beginning with his first Pop Art works in the ’60s, followed by his marriage and artistic collaboration with Coosje van Bruggen in the late ’70s, and ending with their recent public projects in the late ’90s.


Oldenburg gained international fame for his Pop Art sculptures that transform common objects into whimsical constructions, using surprising and unexpected materials. His drawings reveal the creative process behind his public pieces.


Many of these works on paper are designs for the artist’s two best-known series: soft sculptures and monumental projects. Like other artists of the Pop Art movement, he was fascinated by the banal products of consumer culture. He was particularly intrigued by everyday things with close human associations, such as bathtubs, typewriters, light switches and electric fans. By re-creating them in soft, pliant vinyl or as gigantic, imposing structures, Oldenburg gave these objects a new dimension, often with alarming or humorous overtones. His drawings reveal these sculptures as he originally imagined them.


Oldenburg was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1929 but spent most of his childhood in the U.S. After studies at Yale University and the Art Institute of Chicago, he moved to New York City in 1956. He established his reputation in the early ’60s with a series of installations and performances influenced by his surroundings on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.


Oldenburg and van Bruggen worked with architect Frank Gehry on the Main Street Project (1975-84) in Venice, Calif., and Camp Good Times (1984-85) in the Santa Monica Mountains.


For information, call (310) 506-4851.



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