Food Sculpture Exhibition
April 8, 2016
ART LESSON ON POP ART AND FOOD SCULPTURE ~ GRADE 7
This project is inspired by Pop Art and the artist Claes Oldenburg who created a series of Soft Sculptures.
In September 1962, Oldenburg had decided to make sculptures of a grand scale. Plaster was ill-suited to the task–too fragile and heavy–and so the artist, with the assistance of his then wife, Patty Mucha, a skilled seamstress, created sculptures of fabric. Working in the gallery, Oldenburg and Mucha made Floor Burger, Floor Cake, and Floor Cone, three oversized soft sculptures.
“I like to work with very simple ideas,” Oldenburg has said. Despite their simplicity, Floor Burger, Floor Cake, and Floor Cone were groundbreaking artworks. Their soft, pliant, and colorful bodies challenged the convention that sculpture is rigid and austere, and their subject matter and colossal scale infused humor and whimsy into the often sober space of fine art. With this work Oldenburg proposed an alternate form of monumental sculpture, saluting subjects from contemporary American life..
Inspired by Oldenburg’s artworks, Grade 7 students were introduced to the use of clay in order to make and colour their own food sculpture. The aim was to understand the differences between 2D and 3D work as well as gain a deeper understanding of Pop Art and the subjects that were explored during that time. Another layer was added to our project as students were asked to paint their sculptures only in pastel colours to make them look more playful and appealing.
Ms Konstantina Kapanidou – Art Teacher
Pictures of original Soft Sculptures by Claes Oldenburg
Floor Cake, Claes Oldenburg, 1962, USA,
Pop Art, vinyl, wire, kapok, paint
Claes Oldenburg. Floor Burger. 1962, USA,
Canvas filled with foam rubber and cardboard boxes, painted with acrylic paint