Claes Oldenburg: The Sixties

"Claes Oldenburg: The Sixties" showcases a broad range of the artist’s sculptures, including prized works from the Walker Art Center’s collection such as Upside Down City (1962) and Three-Way Plug—Scale A, Soft, Brown (1975). It also highlights his key role in Happenings and other interdisciplinary performance art of the early 1960s.

Several major bodies of work from Oldenburg’s formative years are on view: sculptures of food and everyday goods; a graffiti-inspired installation focused on urban life; film footage from Happenings, and large-scale sculptures of domestic objects. Mouse Museum and Ray Gun Wing, walk-in installations that feature hundreds of objects collected by the artist, address the range and mystery of consumer culture. Sketches, snapshots, home movies, and slide projections give insight into this artist known for his depictions of the everyday.