The Store 1961

Claes Oldenburg constructed this environment out of plaster, paint, and fabric. You can see how the material almost dissolves the subject into something abstract, a blob, a splat, a stain. Look how Oldenburg handles the paint, not as a smooth surface, but as a clotted, almost repulsive texture. It's funny and a bit gross. The marks look intuitive, like a response to the material itself, embracing chance and accident. It makes me think about how we see art, and what we expect from it. Oldenburg’s process shares a sensibility with artists like Jim Nutt of the Chicago Imagists. The process of making becomes a way of thinking, feeling, and experiencing the world. And maybe also a comment on the crassness of consumer culture. The Store is like a theater of the absurd, where objects are transformed into something else, something unsettling, even funny, but definitely open to endless interpretations.