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When artist sculptor Claes Oldenburg, 93, died in 2022, I was reminded of the brush Lansing had with the famed pop international artist 50 years ago.
In 1972 the final touches were being designed for the Washington Mall in downtown Lansing that would feature the circular roundabout intersection of Washington and Michigan Ave directly in front of the Capitol. It was decided that a sculptor would be commissioned to create a dynamic work to adorn the centerpiece of the intersection.
A sculpture committee was assembled by the Lansing Fine Arts Council to choose an artist. At the time, Oldenburg was a highly regarded sculptor but had not yet received the international acclaim he received later in life.
The artist’s trademark style also caused a furor in many communities. He designed huge sculptures of everyday objects. One of his best known works is called “Clothespin”, which is a meticulously accurate 45-foot version of a wooden clothespin, that now stands in the city center of Philadelphia. One of my favorites is a massive representation of a round-wheel typewriter eraser which is in the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden in Washington DC.
