Claes Oldenburg

Interview with Claes Oldenburg, one of the leading pop artists of the 1960s, specializing in the aggrandizement and celebration of the ordinary. He responds to questions from art critic Grace Glueck, and explains many of his works. This illustrated interview was filmed in 1969, when Pop Art was still in vogue and Oldenburg's works still purchased by the casual collector. Themes and materials: Claes arranging cigarette butts as a public sculpture, his drawings of a huge banana, a vacuum cleaner, baked potato as big as a building, etc., all proposed sculptures for different cities. Explains his drawing of balls to roll down a city street, his famous huge lipstick "about love and war"...and the idea of making New York's Central Park a pool table, Beethoven in modern dress, Statue of Liberty with ice cream cone in her hand.