Pop Sensation

When I first saw figure 37.5 on page 137, I thought to myself: 1)why in the world would you want that in the middle of your city then 2) why wouldn't you want that in the middle of your city and finally 3) how did I not see that monstrosity when I was in Philadelphia?  The image I'm speaking of is shown below as well as the man who created it, Claes Oldenburg.

Claes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor with a sweet twist to his work.  He takes ordinary, everyday things and turns them into pieces of art by magnifying them normally ten to twenty times their original size.  Its known as pop art.  Almost all of his works seem out of place but surprisingly enough, most of them look very neat in their unusual settings in my opinion including Clothespin.

I'm not a big modern art fan but whenever its in the city, I really do enjoy it because it actually feels like it belongs there.  That's what draws me to this enormous clothespin in the middle of Philadelphia because its only something that would be valued in modern times and therefore has a modern feel to it.  I feel that's why I think it looks neat in the middle of the city square when a giant clothespin doesn't really belong in the middle of a city square.

Also, I appreciate its size so much.  It is 45 feet tall and over 12 feet wide!  A normal clothespin isn't even a half of a foot.  I mean c'mon! A clothespin is just its everyday, normal size we don't even give it a second glance but when its magnified a little bit, it catches our attention instantaneously.  That's what I love about this piece so much...taking something normal and turning it into something pleasing to the eye.

Other examples of his work are shown below...

Lastly, I love the detail.  Clothespin looks like its actually made out of wood like your average clothespin but instead its made of stainless steel.  Just the time and effort it took to make the steel have the appearance of stained wood with grain lines is something to be admired and appreciated in my opinion.