Take an everyday object – and make it BIG. There’s no surer way to please the crowd. Remo experienced this first hand when living in SoHo, New York in the mid 1980s. Back then there was a store in the hood called “Thing Big” that did a roaring trade in oversized erasers, pencils and pads.
BIG is big in the art world too. Although dominated by the Swedish-born American sculptor Claes Oldenburg (1929–2022) with wife Coosje van Bruggen (1942–2009), there are other examples of note. Here’s a selection (left to right, top to bottom):
Flying Pins (2000) by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
A gigantic cluster of bowling pins exploding outward around a black bowling ball in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
Saw, Sawing (1996) by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
A colossal red handsaw appears to slice through the landscape in Tokyo, Japan.
Corridor Pin, Blue (2000s) by Claes Oldenburg
A gigantic blue-and-silver safety pin standing upright in the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Luxo-inspired Lamp Sculpture
A giant articulated desk lamp looming beside a striped ball in Hong Hong. The work draws on the emotional familiarity of Pixar’s iconic animated lamp character.
Typewriter Eraser, Scale X (1999) by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
Installed in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC – the work depicts an oversized 20th-century typewriter eraser.
Shuttlecock (1994) by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
One of the famous oversized badminton shuttlecocks outside the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, US.
Fork of Vevey (1995) by Jean-Pierre Zaugg
A monumental 8-metre (26 ft)-tall stainless-steel fork rising from Lake Geneva in Switzerland. It’s no longer the world’s largest fork (there are larger in both Missouri and Colorado) – but who gives a fork?
The Big Sweep (2006) by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
A giant broom and dustpan leaning against the Denver Art Museum, turning cleaning tools into heroic public sculpture.
Binoculars Building (1991) by Claes Oldenburg, Coosje van Bruggen and Frank Gehry
A gigantic pair of binoculars forms the entrance to a Venice Beach office building, originally occupied by the advertising agency Chiat Day. Blurs sculpture and architecture.
Almost Once (1971) by Brett Whiteley
A towering giant match sculpture in Sydney’s Domain. Whiteley created the work as an anti-war statement, with the solitary burnt match suggesting fragility and destruction.
Spoonbridge and Cherry (1988) by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
The definitive oversized-object sculpture: a gigantic spoon balancing a glossy red cherry in Minneapolis.
Free Stamp (1991) — by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
A colossal rubber stamp tipped onto its side in Cleveland, Ohio, emblazoned with the word “FREE”.
Giant Three-Way Plug (1970) — by Claes Oldenburg
An enormous electrical plug lying partly buried in the ground in the d’Harnoncourt Sculpture Garden, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, US.
Dropped Cone (2001) — by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
A giant upside-down ice cream cone seemingly crashing through the roofline of a shopping centre in Cologne.
Traffic Cone Sculpture
A towering orange-and-white traffic cone transformed into oversized public art, turning an everyday urban annoyance into visual comedy.
Clothespin (1976) — by Claes Oldenburg
A 14-metre (45-foot) steel clothes peg towering over downtown Philadelphia – one of Oldenburg’s most influential Pop Art monuments.
Cupid’s Span (2002) — by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
A giant bow and arrow embedded in the San Francisco waterfront, combining mythology with cartoon scale.
Bottle Cap Sculptures (2000s–present) by Rómulo Celdrán
Celdrán enlarges discarded everyday objects – especially bottle caps – until they resemble ancient artefacts or industrial monuments.
Hot Water Bottle (2000s–present) by Rómulo Celdrán
A monumental blue hot water bottle rendered with hyperreal precision. Celdrán’s oversized domestic objects celebrate texture, wear and familiarity.
Rubber Duck (2007) by Florentijn Hofman
The gigantic floating yellow bath duck that became a worldwide public-art sensation, delighting crowds from Hong Kong to Sydney.
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References
mymodernmet.com/giant-everyday-object-sculptures/
creativeboom.com/inspiration/macro-giant-hyperrealistic-sculptures-of-everyday-objects-by-rmulo-celdrn/
aestheticsofjoy.com/public-art-installations/
art-sheep.com/ordinary-household-objects-are-re-imagined-as-large-scale-sculptures/
