Everyday objects on a giant scale make playful art

Shuttlecocks by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen – photo by Mark McDonald courtesy of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art MISSOURI ARTS COUNCIL ▪ JULY 2013 Everyday Objects on a Giant Scale Make Playful Art by Barbara MacRobie If the aluminum giant struggling to emerge from the ground in St. Louis County ever makes it out, he can play badminton on the lawn of a museum in Kansas City, and have the turtles in a St. Louis park for pets. Both Turtle Playground by Bob Cassilly and Shuttlecocks by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art take things from everyday life and radically increase their size to be the basis for works of art. Jan Schall, Ph.D., Sanders Sosland curator of modern and contem-porary art at the Nelson-Atkins, says she loves how the Shuttlecocks “say that art isn’t just about knuckling down and getting serious. This is also a place where you can have fun.” Because Missouri has so many striking artworks inspired by gigantic objects and an...