Floor Cone 1962

Claes Oldenburg’s ‘Floor Cone’ is an oversized sculpture of an ice cream cone made out of canvas, foam rubber, and latex. It is one of a series of soft sculptures made in the early 1960s. In Cold War America, consumerism was booming. The food industry was expanding, and the rise of fast food was changing social habits and tastes. In a gallery context, this giant and limp cone is a provocative subversion of the art institution, as Oldenburg replaces traditional monumental sculpture with everyday, popular food. During this period, Pop artists critiqued the divide between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture. Oldenburg turns familiar, domestic objects into something absurd, and in doing so, mocks the preciousness of the art object. By choosing soft materials, Oldenburg deflates the hard, masculine associations of Abstract Expressionist sculpture. By researching the archives of contemporary art, and exploring historical developments in areas like the food industry, we can better understand how artworks like this reflect a changing society.