Torn Notebook blows into Lincoln, Nebraska

Sculptors Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen visited Lincoln on September 6, 1996, for the dedication of their new work, "Torn Notebook," a piece created in steel and aluminum and commissioned by the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery. The sculpture is inspired by Oldenburg's lifelong process of developing ideas in small notebooks that he carries with him everywhere. After a few months, Oldenburg goes through the notebook, tears out those pages that he wants to keep and develop further, and then tears the notebook itself in half. This is an integral part of the art process for Oldenburg and van Bruggen.

As the sculpture was being developed, Oldenburg and van Bruggen visited Lincoln several times and took their own notes about their impressions. Those notes were then selected by the artists and reproduced on the final pages of the sculpture, sometimes in Claes' handwriting, sometimes in Coosje's. Because the handwriting is cut through the pages, light at different times of the day change the way the sculpture looks. And under artificial light at night, walking around the piece is a totally new experience.

Perhaps more than any other contemporary artists, the Oldenburgs have redefined our notion of public art. They have taken familiar objects and transformed them into monumental sculptures, sculptures which sometimes generate controversy but which the public frequently come to enjoy and embrace.

"It suggests a harmony with nature, because it's a sculpture that interacts with nature by suggestion in showing the effect of the wind and also by actual fact because of the way the sun penetrates the writing and casts different shadows so that it's integrated with the surroundings in a very strong way."
- Sculptor Claes Oldenburg

Excerpt from: "Torn Notebook blows into Lincoln" by Gene Bunge

Photograph of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen Next to Torn Notebook, by Larry W. Sheffield, ©1996

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