Floor Cake

Oldenburg's work absolutely blows me away and I love and admire every aspect of his work and the concepts and subject matter that he presents. To me, this sculpture acts as a visual question to humanity and the things we value. Every day in our culture, we are surrounded by unhealthy, sugary foods that are constantly being pushed and shoved into our faces by advertising and the media. The fact that the cake is blown up into a larger size and presented this way is significant, because it emphasizes how this idea of not eating healthy has been lost and how we as a society have lost self-control. When we feel low or we don't not feel great about ourselves, many of us turn to food for comfort. I think the choice of medium is very significant, because the sculpture is soft. Just like the material used to create this piece, cake is very soft as well. The sculpture can easily be crushed and ruined, which is exactly what individuals potentially do to themselves if they make bad eating choices an everyday habit. Although this piece was created BEFORE the idea of obesity and indulging became more of an issue, it could represent the start of the issue or when it first started becoming more apparent in society, which I think is very interesting.
 
Image derived from: Oldernburg, Claes. Floor Cake. 1962. Sculpture. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York. Web. 24 Sep 2013. <http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O:AD:E:4397&page_number=20&template_id=1&sort_order=1>.