☮✿❤FiNe ArT wEdNeSdAy☮✿❤cLaEs OlDeNbUrG FrEe StAmP☮✿ ❤

Free Stamp outdoor sculpture, Cleveland, Ohio's Willard Park. Sculptor: Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Known as the "world's largest rubber stamp" The dimensions of the sculpture are 28 ft 10 in (8.79 m) by 26 ft (7.9 m) by 49 ft (15 m).The sculpture depicts a rubber stamp with the word "FREE" in its stamping area.*

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Stamp

Thought this might be an interesting art piece to discover due to the fact there is so much contraversy around BP and in fact BP bought the building from Standard Oil of Ohio. The Modern Art Sculpture by Claes Oldendurg called "Free Stamp" is typical of an Oldenburg; life-sized object made giant-size; much larger than life they take on a new dimension and a new understanding wholly modern.

I was rather shocked to find that BP did not like this sculpture. But after the BP oil disaster, maybe not. It seems to me the idea "Free" with "Oil" would be incongruous. Hopefully someone will get it. One day? Free? Ok! Sohio had previously been acquired by BP, and BP executive Robert Horton took over the management of Sohio before the sculpture was installed. He believed that the stamp was "inappropriate" for the location, and that Oldenburg actually intended to mock BP about Sohio's loss of corporate freedom and the lack of freedom in office work.[6] The company gave the artists permission to move the sculpture to another part of the city, but they refused. As a result, the stamp was placed in storage in a facility in Whiting, Indiana.[1] Over the next several years, BP, the artists, and the city consulted to find a new site for the sculpture. Several sites were proposed, including the Cleveland Museum of Art. The artists, who wanted the sculpture to remain near Public Square, finally chose Willard Park.[7]

In 1991, BP donated the sculpture to the city of Cleveland.[4] The stamp was modified to sit on its side, and it was dedicated in its new location in November 1991.[7] Oldenburg reportedly said that it looked as if a giant hand had picked up the sculpture from its intended location at the BP Tower and angrily hurled it several blocks, where it ended up on its side.[5]

jj