Brownstoner to Oldenburg: Screw Us!

Ken Finkel at Brownstoner wrote chuckle-worthy open letter to artist Claes Oldenburg (he of the Clothespin at 15th and Market and Split Button on Locust Walk) decrying the famed artist's proposed paintbrush for Lenfest Plaza. In addition to giving some nice background on Oldenburg and his history in Philly, Finkel calls out the sculptor for being too conservative design: Admittedly, Cherry Street is a tough site. A paintbrush fits; a lit paintbrush doubling as a beacon offers a glimpse of your old, playful style. And we think the blob of paint on the sidewalk is a nice touch. But you say you wanted to propose something "that in some way relates to the site" next to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts? How about tapping the Academy's richly ironic history? Didn't you see possibilities in Peale's pulling back the curtain for visitors in his iconic painting, The Artist in His Museum? Or what about working with the loincloth Thomas Eakins removed from a male model, to better teach anatomy? (That lesson nearly cost him his career.) I'm sure there are any number of possibilities the old Oldenburg would have explored. Finkel would rather have Oldenburg's coloassal screw, which he proposed for Sao Paolo, Brazil in 1971.

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Brownstoner to Oldenburg: Screw Us!

POSTED: Thursday, July 22, 2010, 4:59 PM

Filed Under: Arts

Ken Finkel at Brownstoner wrote chuckle-worthy open letter to artist Claes Oldenburg (he of the Clothespin at 15th and Market and Split Button on Locust Walk) decrying the famed artist's proposed paintbrush for Lenfest Plaza. In addition to giving some nice background on Oldenburg and his history in Philly, Finkel calls out the sculptor for being too conservative design:

Admittedly, Cherry Street is a tough site. A paintbrush fits; a lit paintbrush doubling as a beacon offers a glimpse of your old, playful style. And we think the blob of paint on the sidewalk is a nice touch. But you say you wanted to propose something "that in some way relates to the site" next to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts? How about tapping the Academy's richly ironic history? Didn't you see possibilities in Peale's pulling back the curtain for visitors in his iconic painting, The Artist in His Museum? Or what about working with the loincloth Thomas Eakins removed from a male model, to better teach anatomy? (That lesson nearly cost him his career.) I'm sure there are any number of possibilities the old Oldenburg would have explored.

Finkel would rather have Oldenburg's coloassal screw, which he proposed for Sao Paolo, Brazil in 1971.

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