Saw Sawing
Tokyo, Japan
History
Commissioned in January 1995 by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Claes Oldenburg created the sculpture. It was installed in March 1996. It took a year to create. It was made of steel, epoxy resin, fiber-reinforced plastic, polyurethane and polyvinyl chloride foams; painted with polyester gelcoat .
Artist statement.
They felt, that the sculpture should have a larger presence in relation to the architecture. The subject chosen to accomplish this was a Western-style handsaw. Coosje found the saw appropriate to the cross-cut effect of the layered construction surrounding the site. Also, the teeth of the saw would continue the triangular motif of the buildings. They imagined the Saw, Sawing rising from its point of insertion into the ground high enough over the plaza to display the handle’s curved organic form.
My opinion.
In my opinion the sculpture was a very cool one and it works very well with the surrounding. It also is a very smart layout plan and paint process because it works with the surrounding the ridges on the saw are the same shape as the buildings surrounding the Saw,Sawing. It has its good and its bad with what it's made out of is like a lightning rod standing up in the ground.