Take an everyday object – and make it BIG. There’s no surer way to please the crowd. I experienced this firsthand when living in SoHo, New York in the 1980s. Back then there was a store in the hood called “Think Big” that did a roaring trade in oversized erasers, pencils and pads. [Ed: Who else remembers that store?]
BIG is big in the art world too. Although dominated by the Swedish-born American sculptor Claes Oldenburg (1929–2022) with wife Coosje van Bruggen (1942–2009), there are other examples of note.
Here’s a selection:
Flying Pins (2000) – by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. A gigantic cluster of bowling pins exploding outward around a black bowling ball in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
Saw, Sawing (1996) – by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. A colossal red handsaw appears to slice through the landscape in Tokyo.
Corridor Pin, Blue (2000s) – by Claes Oldenburg. A gigantic blue-and-silver safety pin standing upright at the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Luxo-inspired Lamp Sculpture. A giant articulated Pixar’esque desk lamp looming beside a striped ball in Hong Hong SAR for “Pixar Fest” in 2021.
Typewriter Eraser, Scale X (1999) – by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. An oversized typewriter eraser installed in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC.
Shuttlecock (1994) – by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. One of the famous, oversized badminton shuttlecocks outside the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City.
Fork of Vevey (1995) – by Jean-Pierre Zaugg. A monumental 8-metre (26-foot)-tall stainless-steel fork rising from Lake Geneva in Switzerland.
The Big Sweep (2006) – by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. A giant broom and dustpan leaning against the Denver Art Museum.
Binoculars Building (1991) – by Claes Oldenburg, Coosje van Bruggen with architect Frank Gehry. A gigantic pair of binoculars forms the entrance to a Venice Beach office building (originally Chiat Day HQ).
Almost Once (1971) – by Brett Whiteley. A towering giant match sculpture in Sydney’s Domain.
Spoonbridge and Cherry (1988) – by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. The definitive, oversized-object sculpture: a gigantic spoon balancing a glossy red cherry in Minneapolis.
Free Stamp (1991) – by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. A colossal rubber stamp tipped onto its side in Cleveland, Ohio, emblazoned with the word “FREE”.
Giant Three-Way Plug (1970) – by Claes Oldenburg. Enormous electrical plug lying partly buried in the ground at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA.
Dropped Cone (2001) — by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Giant upside-down ice cream cone smooshed on the roofline of a shopping centre in Cologne.
Traffic Cone Sculpture. A towering orange-and-white traffic cone transformed into oversized public art. Date or artist not known.
Clothespin (1976) – by Claes Oldenburg. A 14-metre (45-foot) steel clothes peg towering over downtown Philadelphia.
Cupid’s Span (2002) – by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. A giant bow and arrow embedded in the San Francisco waterfront.
Bottle Cap Sculptures (21st century) – by Rómulo Celdrán. Celdrán enlarges discarded everyday objects – especially bottle caps.
Hot Water Bottle (21st century) – by Rómulo Celdrán. A monumental blue hot water bottle rendered with hyperreal precision.
Rubber Duck (2007) – by Florentijn Hofman. A gigantic, floating yellow bath duck became a worldwide sensation, delighting crowds from Hong Kong to Sydney.
REMORANDOM Chapter
References
Have you seen the giant “Monuments to Fishes” at Barangaroo? Fabulous and bigger in real life!