LLEI D'ART 10

expressions of art Soft art Soft art is a sculptural trend that arose in the 1960s, using soft materials such as ropes, waxes, fabric or elastic and plastic components. Once again, we can find the seed of this movement in the prolific and restless Marcel Duchamp. Following his discourse that it is the choice and later decontextualisation of an object or matter that turns it into a piece of art, he provoked new critical thinking and reflections with it using some of his most controversial works, such as Pliant...de voyage , a typewriter cover , Sculpture de voyage , made of pieces of bathing caps, or A bruit secret , a ball of cord fixed between two pieces of tin, are all considered the true precursors of the origin of this movement. For his part during the 1970s the Swedish artist Claes Oldenburg began to sell his peculiar, enormous sculptures inspired in gastronomy and made of soft, simple materials that, when touched by the spectator, changed their shape, enriching the artistic experience in the fact that the works gained a more subjective meaning in a display of exalted everyday items. As the artist himself states, the soft materials invite touching because ‘you can establish a dialogue with a soft material, whereas rigidity creates a wall of indifference’. In fact, artistic work using soft materials has been, and is still being adopted by various movements, such as Pop Art, art trouvé , art povera or even surrealism, especially as far as sculpture is concerned. This is because it shows something of a rebellious side in comparison to the rigidity of traditional sculpture, which in turn defines expression itself, always provided the materials used are not hard (or at least permanently so), and are not attempting to show themselves as something different than what that really are. It was precisely the effervescent publicity and expansion of the media during the 1970s and the incessant consumerist bombarding that provoked the re-evaluation of ‘the popular’ and with it, the ephemeral, the banal, the futile. This phenomenon did not go unnoticed by art, which found an interesting way to enrich the subliminal message of a work destined to be valued by normal people in this expressive medium addicted to soft, cheap materials which was often loaded with content as often ironic as ambiguous. This is perhaps the reason why many international critics have never taken especially kindly to it. Claes Oldenburg. BLT Gigante (Sandwich de bacon, lechuga y tomate)/ Giant BLT (Bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich) , 1963. Vinilo, fibra de guata y madera pintado/Vinyl, kapok fibers and painted wood. Museo Whitney de Arte Americano, Nueva York. Donación de/ Donated by The American Contemporary Art Foundation Inc. © Claes Oldenburg. 27