Batcolumn

For a commission to create a public sculpture for the Social Security Administration building, Claes Oldenburg chose the baseball bat as an emblem of Chicago's ambition and vigor. Its verticality echoes the city's dramatic skyline, and its form and scale allude to traditional civic monuments such as obelisks and memorial columns, while its crisscrossing structural latticework creates an elegant silhouette against the open sky. Oldenburg emerged in the early 1960s as a leading figure of American Pop Art, a movement inspired by popular culture including comic strips, advertisements, and mass-produced consumer goods. His art transforms everyday objects through dramatic shifts in scale and materials, embraces the complexity of modern society, and is intended to bring art into direct contact with daily life. His work is widely exhibited and held in the permanent collections of leading art museums around the world. Born in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 28, 1929, Oldenburg moved with his family to Chicago in 1936 when his father, a Swedish diplomat, was relocated there. He attended the Chicago Latin School, graduated from Yale University in 1950, and became an American citizen in 1953.

Chicago, Illinois · United States