클래스 올덴버그 작품에 나타난 대중성과 일상성의 재현에 관한 연구

Abstract

This thesis will analyze the use of popular elements and the employment of common objects that lie at the core of Claes Oldenburg's environmental sculptures. By examining the significant characteristics that commonly appear in his works, I will argue the artist's historical significance. Through his use of environmental sculptures that harmonize with nature, Oldenburg refined our notion of public art. My thesis will also investigate the direction of public sculpture as it suits our current cultural and social needs. Along with Andy Warhol (1928~1987) and Roy Lichtenstein (1923 ~1997), Claes Oldenburg (b.1929) is one of the principal representatives of Pop Art. While all three artists sought toreach mass audiences by using everyday objects in their work, Oldenburg, by transforming two-dimensional objects into sculptural works, rejected existing authoritarian concepts and conventional ideas and suggested a purer function for art achieved throughfree aesthetic style and method. He popularized sculpture through his choice of materials and by adapting his work to the environment, and by employing techniques that blurred the boundary between sculpture. Oldenburg's work served as a critique of the limitations of Modernism by approaching represented objects within a social context. Whereas most works by other Pop artists commented upon aspects of popular media and the consumer society, Oldenburg grafted wit and humor onto familiar and ordinary objects. In his early Happenings, his sculptural works integrated visual art, play, and environment in time and space. His soft sculptures of vinyl and cloth canceled out the original functions of the machines and commonplace objects that they represented. By creating objects on a monumental scale and presenting them in public spaces, Oldenburg encouraged his viewers to participate actively in experiencing and embracing them. At the same time, by exposing them to unfamiliar representations of these enlarged objects, he provided opportunities to reconsider the objects' significance. Oldenburg's interest in the space and time that surround his works may be seen in his monumental projects from the early stage of his career. These monumental projects often shocked viewers through the imposition of disproportionate scale. Paradoxically, through the use of these over-sized works, Oldenburg increased the intimacy between art and the public.