They asked me to do a show, and I was planning on showing my figure paintings. But my friends told me I shouldn't - the paintings were good but a little old-fashioned. They said, "Why don't you show the other stuff?" I had also been making rather strange objects, more in the Freudian tradition.
Claes OldenburgMy rule was not to paint things as they were. I wasn't copying; I was remaking them as my own.
Claes OldenburgAndy [Warhol] was on the scene, but he wasn't an artist at first; he was more an illustrator. He was always surrounded by about ten people who worshipped him. He'd go to a party and they would all come along. But he was drawing shoes and that sort of thing.
Claes OldenburgThe art world was very small and the people got together at parties. There was less commercialism.
Claes Oldenburg