The Accidental Possibilities of the City – Claes Oldenburg`s Urbanism in Postwar America

"Smith persuasively argues that Oldenburg's ebullient interventions in public space result from a unique perspective on the ordinary, pedestrian life of the street. The more I think about this book, the more I am convinced that Oldenburg--an immigrant and an erstwhile Midwesterner--is the quintessentially American sculptor."--Miguel de Baca, author of Memory Work: Anne Truitt and Sculpture

"A thoughtful and illuminating account of the city as both the material and the subject of Claes Oldenburg's art. Smith builds on substantive archival and historical research to uncover hitherto unexplored aspects of the artist's project, presenting Oldenburg as an artist whose work is inextricably connected to the spaces, personages, and tensions of postwar urban experience."--Michael Lobel, Professor of Art History, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY