Quotes from Claes Oldenburg

I had no idea what art was. There was one art class in high school, but it didn't make a big impression on me. Then I went to college and thought I'd become a writer.

I am for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum.

I am for an art that tells you the time of day, or where such and such a street is. I am for an art that helps old ladies across the street.

I am for an art that imitates the human, that is comic, if necessary, or violent, or whatever is necessary. I am for an art that takes its form from the lines of life itself, that twists and extends and accumulates and spits and drips, and is heavy and coarse and blunt and sweet and stupid as life itself.

I am for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something more than sit on its ass in a museum.

Art is a technique of communication. The image is the most complete technique of all communication.