“I was always interested in drawing. As a child, I started my own country, which was called Neubern. It was located in the South Atlantic. I did the documentation of Neubern in great detail. I drew everything that was there, all the houses and all the cars and all the people. We even had a navy and an air force. I spent a lot of time drawing.” PeopleChildrenCountryHouseForceMy OwnAirCarSouthDetailsDrawingNavyAir ForceDocumentation Author:Claes Oldenburg
“It was easy to get a job at the Cedar Bar because people came and went, but I didn't like the atmosphere. Instead, I got a job at Cooper Union Library. I stayed at Cooper Union for seven years; it was my salvation. While I worked there, I also read books of every kind.” PeopleYearsKindBookJobsEasySalvationUnionsSevenLibraryBarsAtmosphereSeven YearsEasy To GetCedars Author:Claes Oldenburg
“In 1958 I finally found a large enough apartment on the Lower East Side, where I reverted to figure painting. I drew and painted quite a lot of figures and nudes. People would come and pose for me.” PeopleEnoughFoundSidesFiguresPaintingEastApartmentEast SideFigure Painting Author:Claes Oldenburg
“The art world was very small and the people got together at parties. There was less commercialism.” PeopleWorldArtTogetherPartyArt WorldCommercialism Author:Claes Oldenburg
“Andy [Warhol] was on the scene, but he wasn't an artist at first; he was more an illustrator. He was always surrounded by about ten people who worshipped him. He'd go to a party and they would all come along. But he was drawing shoes and that sort of thing.” PeopleFirstsArtistPartySceneTenShoesDrawingWarholIllustrators Author:Claes Oldenburg
“I like food because you can change it. I mean, there is no such thing as a perfect lamb chop; you can make all types of lamb chops. And that's true of everything. And people eat it and it changes and disappears.” PeopleMeanPerfectTypeDisappearLambs Author:Claes Oldenburg
“Of course, the '60s was a study in decadence. Everything just got worse and worse, and at the end of the '60s, everything was so horrible that people were killing each other.” PeopleEndsCoursesStudyKillingHorribleDecadenceKilling Each Other Author:Claes Oldenburg
“I had, over the years, collected things, small things, as people do, and I had put them all together and showed them in what became a building in the form of the Geometric Mouse.” PeopleYearsTogetherFormBuildingMiceSmall ThingsGeometric Author:Claes Oldenburg
