Claes Oldenburg / Coosje van Bruggen

Spanning two decades, this show includes 150 works on paper from the artists’ notebooks, which reflect the thoughts and conversations from which their projects spring. This exhibition, organized by Marianne Stockebrand, Director of the Chinati Foundation, with the artists, marks the premiere exhibition of this body of work, and Chinati is pleased to offer the public its first opportunity to see these important and personal pieces.

Oldenburg and van Bruggen have collaborated on large-scale projects since the mid-1970s. Their work reclaims quotidian objects, transforming them into sculptures of great humor, poise, and whimsy. With their original work, Oldenburg and van Bruggen have redefined public spaces across the United States and abroad. The notebook drawings in this exhibition include ink, watercolor, collage, as well as pencil sketches of works such as Clothespin (1976), Philadelphia; Screwarch (1983), Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Stake Hitch (1984), Dallas Art Museum, Texas; and Monument to the Last Horse, (1991) Chinati Foundation, Marfa. Also part of this show are exuberant drawings of seemingly animate food on and off the plate, and studies for the proposed costumes and events from their huge and ceremonial production Il Corso del Coltello in Venice, Italy, which culminated with the gigantic Knifeship (a red Swiss army knife with all parts in motion) making its way down the grand canal. Pressetext

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
Notebook Pages: A Dialogue