Thursday, 21 July 2022 12:55

Claes Oldenburg, dead at 93. His Giant Ice Cream Cone Visited Saratoga

Claes Oldenburg’s “Giant Ice Cream Cone,” enamel on muslin soaked in plaster over wire frame, on exhibit at the Tang Museum in 2002. (Photo: The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College). Claes Oldenburg’s “Giant Ice Cream Cone,” enamel on muslin soaked in plaster over wire frame, on exhibit at the Tang Museum in 2002. (Photo: The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College).

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Swedish born artist Claes Oldenburg died this week at the age of 93. Oldenburg moved to New York City in the mid-1950s, when he became part of the Happenings and performance art scene. 

In 2002, shortly after the opening of the Tang Museum on the campus of Skidmore College, the renowned artist’s work was featured in the exhibit “From Pop to Now: Selections from the Sonnabend Collection.” 

Oldenburg’s “Giant Ice Cream Cone” grew from a series of painted plaster and soft sculpture creations displayed as “merchandise” (priced to sell for as little as $69.95!) in a storefront performance space in the East Village in the early 1960s. 

“My intention is to make an everyday object that eludes definition,” he once said. 

Read 878 times

Blotter

  • Saratoga County Court Rick C. Sweet, 36, of Ballston Spa, pleaded to attempted assault in the second-degree, and menacing in the third-degree, charged in January. Sentencing July 3.  Seth A. Labarbera, 24, of Ballston Lake, was sentenced to 1 year in local jail, after pleading to criminal possession of a weapon in the second-degree, charged July 2023 in Saratoga Springs.  David A. Fink, 27, of Ballston, was sentenced to 4 years’ incarceration and 5 years’ post-release supervision, after pleading to attempted arson in the second-degree, charged August 2023.  Michael J. Scensny, 34, of Waterford, was sentenced to 3 years in state…

Property Transactions

  • BALLSTON  William Bergstrom sold property at 793 Rt 50 to KMD 793 LLC for $245,000 Eastline Holdings LLC sold property at 2 Linden Ct to Donna Jordan for $449,980 John Moynihan sold property at 28 Fruitwood Dr to Joshua Matthews for $380,000 Ronald Taylor sold property at 1422 Saratoga Rd to Invequity Holdings LLC for $600,000 CHARLTON Tara Hicks sold property at 8 McNamara Dr to Andrew Sayles for $270,000 Jon Andersen sold property at 454 Finley Rd to Ryan Donselar for $475,000 CORINTH Steven Cole sold property at 28 West Mechanic St to Maurice Jeanson for $275,000 GREENFIELD Robert…
  • NYPA
  • Saratoga County Chamber
  • BBB Accredited Business
  • Discover Saratoga
  • Saratoga Springs Downtown Business Association