Spoonbridge and Cherry
1988
This monumental sculpture presents a playful reimagining of everyday objects at an epic scale. A colossal stainless steel spoon cradles an oversized red cherry, its stem arcing gracefully overhead, while water cascades from the cherry's dimpled surface in a perpetual fountain. Rendered in gleaming aluminum and painted steel, the work exemplifies Pop Art's celebration of consumer culture and humor, transforming familiar domestic implements into a landscape-defining landmark. Set within the lush Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, the work invites viewers to reconsider the poetry and possibility in ordinary forms through Claes Oldenburg's signature strategy of magnification and material transformation. Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Czbik — CC0 (public domain)
- Medium
- Aluminum, stainless steel, paint
- Spotted At
- Venue · Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
Spotted works by Claes Oldenburg
Artists in conversation
Jeff Koons
American · b. 1955
Koons creates monumental polished stainless steel sculptures of everyday and playful objects like balloon animals and oversized flowers, sharing the same glossy surfaces, humor, Pop sensibility, and landmark public scale found in Spoonbridge and Cherry.
Coosje van Bruggen
Dutch · b. 1942
Van Bruggen was Oldenburg's longtime collaborator and co-creator of Spoonbridge and Cherry itself, producing monumental public sculptures that transform mundane consumer objects into playful large scale landmarks using painted metal and bold color.
Tom Otterness
American · b. 1952
Otterness creates large scale public sculptures rendered in polished and painted metal that bring humor, accessibility, and a playful Pop influenced sensibility to outdoor urban and garden environments, closely echoing the whimsical monumental character of Spoonbridge and Cherry.
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