"Empire" ("Papa") Ray Gun
Claes Oldenburg
American, born Sweden. 1929–2022
1959
A suspended papier-mâché object painted with casein over a wire armature that turns a comic “ray gun” into a lumpy, hand-fashioned, almost living shape—Oldenburg’s playful way of making the ordinary monumental.
Its patched brown surface and oversized, asymmetrical bulbs hang like a fossilized cartoon, so you’re struck by a mix of humor and unease as the form reads both mechanical and fleshlike.
Created at the start of Pop, it helped move sculpture away from polished industrial finish toward humble, domestic materials and ironic, everyday imagery, opening the door for soft sculpture and a new relationship between art and mass culture.
Medium
Casein on papier-mâché over wire
Dimensions
35 7/8 x 44 7/8 x 14 5/8" (90.9 x 113.8 x 36.9 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the artist
Accession
791.1969
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
