Imagine above your two images: on the left a large black and white photograph of a sink and on the right a deflated, dilapidated version sown out of what looks like bouncy castle material: but here I promise not to dwell too much on content but what this content gives to the form, for there are 20 other pages like this in the book. Cecille here being the front of this catalog, and Tur the back. She said “Kitsch is the repression of death”, and he: “Kitsch is the sweetness of the soul”. Then Tur, exhausted by this statement: “Of course there is, make tiny doors”, Cecille: “Then people will keep banging their heads and they will get sick. It was insufficient, she said: “There is no space for art when you build a house”. In trying to solve this issue Tur referenced Oldenburg as an example of an artist using interior design and architectural ideas in an artistic form: suggesting Cecille might learn from this. At some point it all spilled out: an architect for 27 years, fed up of not being able to practice creativity within her job taking a year out putting everything on hold trying to start again.

Cecille was conflicted about many things and had earlier that day talked herself into great confusion about the significance of a plastic Marylin Monroe compared to that of a plastic Buddha. For the sake of the narrative, she will be called Cecille. Sat among the group was a woman (about 50) who was neither introduced nor introduced herself. Last February I went to a seminar by Nasan Tur. “What is your question? I don’t understand your question?”

He said some things about the Moderna Museet but, again, “It’s no use to you. “I bought a Claes Oldenburg book last week.” “Claes’ partner was actually dutch… but that doesn’t help you. who cares about them? Its all about the artist” “Many designers in the 60s weren’t credited at the time because being a designer was so applied. The librarian at the Rietveld Library said he would help me research. Safe to say Henk doesn’t have a copy at home.Įmailing Moderna Museet led to nothing fruitful. I settled on “Skulpturer och tecknigar 17 Sept.- 30 Okt”: a catalogue of Claes Oldenburg’s work from Moderna Museet in 1966. Which was which he wouldn’t tell, so I followed my instinct. Narrowing down my choices to 2 books Henk advised me one was a classic (he owned 4 copies) and the other he knew nothing about.

The designer of this catalog is unstated and unfindable and probably dead.ĭuring this assignment we were asked to chose a recent edition in the library based purely on its design, in order to research it for the coming weeks and write a publication on it.

Soft bathtub claes oldenburg