page 3 of 9

Spoonbridge and Cherry

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, 1988

Claes Oldenburg Shoestring Potatoes Spilling from a Bag 1966 canvas, kapok, glue, acrylic H 108 x W 46 x D 42 in.

Who are the artists?

Claes Oldenburg is an American artist born in Sweden in 1929. He was raised in Illinois and attended Yale University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Coosje van Bruggen was born in The Netherlands in 1942. Although she began her career as a writer, she started creating art when she married Oldenburg.

In the 1960s Claes Oldenburg took everyday objects such as french fries and electrical plugs, often changing their size, shape and materials. This was called pop art because the objects came from our everyday life, or popular culture.

Sometimes Oldenburg made the objects large-scale, or monumental, so that we see them in a different way. Can you identify an ordinary object in your room or classroom that would make an interesting monumental sculpture?