Claes Oldenburg

Claes Oldenburg's Irony at the Bilbao Guggenheim

Claes Oldenburg, the Swedish artist born in Stockholm in 1929 and considered one of the progenitors of Pop Art, presents a new exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. The show opened on October 30 and will remain until February 17, 2013.

Renowned as one of the great artists of the 1960s, Oldenburg is a central figure in the recent history of performance, installation, and Pop Art. Alongside Coosje van Bruggen, his work had a sizable influence in public art, thanks to his monumental-scale projects. One of the points of reference for Oldenburg's work is his use of industrial objects that, transformed into consumer goods by virtue of their constant metamorphosis of form and material content, become cultural vehicles and symbols for the imagination. All of this is intended as a reflection of the obsessions and ambitions of the capitalist world.

With more than 300 works on display, this exhibition is the most important presentation of Oldenburg's revolutionary early oeuvre, created in the 1960s. This period was characterized by the artist's irony, humor, and a critical spirit that, according to Oldenburg, intended to provoke reactions of curiosity and reflection.

For the show, Oldenburg contributed photographs, sketches, and Super-8 films from his personal archives, never before seen in public and which, due to their fragility, will perhaps never be put on display again after this exhibition; after its term in Bilbao, Spain, it will travel to Vienna, New York, and Minneapolis.

Oldenburg defines his works as "creative madness" in which he uses everything from Styrofoam French fries to electric fans, kitsch objects, toys, knick-knacks, toilet bowls, power plugs, and ashtrays.