Introduction
While walking around the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, I suddenly came across a giant shuttlecraft created by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. This massive object inspires fear with its enormity and evokes genuine amazement. Upon reflection, I am compelled to consider its significance in the context of the scale disparity.
Reflection on Scale and Proportion in Art
An ordinary shuttle is a small vessel that can fit in the palm of your hand. However, this shuttle is a monster that can crush me with its sheer mass. This leads me to consider how small and insignificant we humans are in comparison to the world around us. This object reinforces our unease and vulnerability, emphasizing our insignificance in this vast cosmos.
However, this giant shuttlecraft also makes me laugh despite these feelings of unease. I laugh because its disproportion and absurdity make me realize what a strange and unusual world we sometimes create around us. This shuttlecock becomes a symbol of our penchant for the eccentric and ridiculous, and I can’t help but laugh at that irony.
Moreover, this sculpture embodies a strange use of scale and proportion to convey its meaning (Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen: Exhibitions & Projects: Shuttlecocks, 2019). It draws attention to the dimensions of our bodies and our interaction with the world around us. We are confronted with something so unusual and incongruous that it makes us wonder what other aspects of our lives might also be distorted and strange.
Conclusion
In the end, Oldenburg and van Bruggen’s Giant Shuttle is a prime example of the use of scale and proportion in art. It evokes a sense of unease and danger, as well as a sense of laughter and reflection on our role in this world. This sculpture offers us a unique perspective on art that is, to say the least, unusual, and forces us to rethink our ideas about proportion and scale.
Reference
Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen: Exhibitions & Projects: Shuttlecocks. (2019). Oldenburgvanbruggen. Web.