NARRATOR:  

Although you might not recognize it at first, this is sculptor Claes Oldenburg’s version of a traditional funeral wreath. As you can see, it’s very different from the flower arrangement it was based on. Oldenburg’s intention, however, wasn’t to make a copy.  

By the early ‘60s, many artists were questioning the authenticity of Abstract Expressionism. Its philosophy about the separation between art and life seemed outdated to a new generation. 

JANET BISHOP:  

One reason for making these objects is that Oldenburg was really sort of testing the limits of what could be considered a viable subject for art.  

NARRATOR:  

Curator Janet Bishop:  

BISHOP:  

They’re really wonderful. There’s so much energy and passion that’s obvious in the making of these, just in the way that the paint is applied. They’re so loose and enthusiastic. 

NARRATOR:  

The Funeral Heart is actually one of many objects that the artist made during the early sixties for The Store, which he set up in a space he rented on East Second Street in New York. 

BISHOP:  

He fabricated a huge array of objects that might be found in sort of a dry goods store or an ordinary market or clothing store—things like pairs of pants, cakes, Coca Cola signs, shoes. The store lasted several months, and was some sort of cross between a gallery exhibition and a garage sale and a Happening.