Biography
Waddington Galleries, London will present a major exhibition of work by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. It will feature important works from the past 40 years, including one of Claes Oldenburg’s earliest sculptures ‘Fan-Hard Model’, 1965–66 and key Oldenburg/van Bruggen pieces from the 1980s such as ‘From the Entropic Library–Model’, 1980–89 and ‘Monument to the Last Horse’, 1989–90, the large-scale version of which was commissioned by Donald Judd and donated by the artists to the Chinati Foundation. A suite of musical works span 1992 to 2005 and comprise ‘soft sculptures’ such as ‘Soft Saxophone, Scale A, Muslin’, 1992; ‘Silent Metronome, 16 inch, Version Three’, 2005; ‘hard’ sculptures such as ‘Tied Trumpet’, 2004, and rarely seen drawings. Key ‘food’ pieces on display include ‘Leaning Fork with Meatball and Spaghetti III’, 1994 and ‘Blueberry Pie à la Mode, Flying, Scale A’, 1996. ‘Soft Shuttlecock, Study’, 1994, will also be exhibited, of which the large version was specifically created for the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed rotunda of the Guggenheim Museum.
Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen have worked together since 1976, after meeting at Sonsbeek 71, where Oldenburg exhibited the 41-foot tall ‘Trowel I’ and van Bruggen co-edited the exhibition catalogue. They were married in 1977 and have continued their artistic collaboration for over 25 years. Their iconic projects often blur the line between architecture, art and theatre. They have executed more than 40 permanently sited, architecturally scaled sculptures throughout America, Europe, and Japan. These include ‘Spoonbridge and Cherry’ (1988), Minneapolis; ‘Mistos (Match Cover)’, (1992), Barcelona; ‘Shuttlecocks’ (1994), ‘Kansas City; Saw, Sawing’ (1996), Tokyo; Ago, ‘Filo e Nodo (Needle, Thread and Knot)’ (2000), Milan; and the 40-foot-high ‘Dropped Cone’ (2001) on top of Neumarkt Galerie in Cologne, Germany. Their collaboration has also encompassed smaller park and garden sculptures in addition to indoor installations.
The sculpture ‘French Horns, Unwound and Entwined’, 2005, will be on display as part of Frieze Sculpture Garden
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Claes Oldenburg, Fan - Hard Model, 1965-66 cardboard, spray enamel, crayon, straight pins 42 x 28 1/2 x 18 in / 106.7 x 72.4 x 45.7 cm
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Study for Beached Lutes - Version One, 2005 muslin, wood, metal, polyurethane foam, cord; coated with resin and painted with latex 14 1/2 x 20 x 13 1/2 in / 36.8 x 50.8 x 34.3 cm
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Spitzhacke, Model, 1982 aluminium painted with polyurethane enamel 48 3/4 x 51 x 24 in / 123.8 x 129.5 x 61 cm
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Monument to the Last Horse, 1989-90 steel and concrete painted with latex 31 x 28 x 22 in / 78.7 x 71.1 x 55.9 cm
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Claes Oldenburg, Sneaker Lace, 1990 52 x 24 1/2 x 42 in / 132.1 x 62.2 x 106.7 cm cast stainless steel hand-painted with latex
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Soft Saxophone, Scale A, Muslin, 1992 25 x 46 x 10 in / 63.5 x 116.8 x 25.4 cm muslin, hardware cloth, polyurethane foam, wood, Dacron; painted with latex
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Soft Shuttlecock, Study, 1994 13 x 80 in diam / 33 x 203.2 cm diam canvas and wood painted with latex
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Blueberry Pie à la Mode, Flying, Scale A, 1996 29 x 20 x 50 in / 73.7 x 50.8 x 127 cm cast aluminium painted with polyurethane enamel
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Standing Soft Clarinet - Gray, 2001 canvas coated with resin and painted with latex 55 1/8 x 9 x 9 1/2 in / 140 x 22.9 x 24.1 cm
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Tied Trumpet, 2004 aluminium, canvas, felt, polyurethane foam, rope, cord; coated with resin and painted with latex 50 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 15 in / 128.3 x 59.7 x 38.1 cm
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Silent Metronome, 16 inch, Version Three, 2005 canvas, wood, hardware, cord; painted with acrylic and latex 16 x 8 1/2 x 10 in / 40.6 x 21.6 x 25.4 cm
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Collar and Bow 1:16, 2005 aluminium painted with acrylic and polyurethane enamel 51 1/2 x 45 1/4 x 39 1/2 in / 130.8 x 114.9 x 100.3 cm
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, French Horns, Unwound and Entwined, 2005 stainless steel and aluminium painted with polyurethane enamel 136 x 56 x 66 in / 345.4 x 142.2 x 167.6 cm
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Study for a Poster of the Stake Hitch, 1984 charcoal and watercolour on paper 36 x 22 1/2 in / 91.4 x 57.2 cm
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, From the Entropic Library - Model, 1989-90 cardboard, rope, expanded polystyrene, wood, aluminium, steel, canvas; coated with resin and painted 115 x 172 x 66 in / 292.1 x 436.9 x 167.6 cm
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Sphinx Fragments on a Playing Field, 1997 pencil and pastel on paper 30 x 40 in / 76.2 x 101.6 cm
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Proposal for a Sculpture in the Form of a Needle, Thread, and Knot, for Piazzale Cadorna, Milan, 1999 pencil and coloured pencil on paper 30 x 40 in / 76.2 x 101.6 cm
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, From the Entropic Library - Second Study, 1989 charcoal and pastel on paper 25 3/8 x 36 in / 64.5 x 91.4 cm
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Leaning Fork with Meatball and Spaghetti III, 1994 polyurethane on cast aluminium 131 1/2 x 51 1/2 x 39 in / 334 x 130.8 x 99.1 cm
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, French Horn, Unwound, Horn Against Ground, 2001 charcoal and pastel on paper 37 x 48 in / 94 x 121.9 cm