Published on the occasion of Things Around the House, an exhibition of works by Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen, at Paula Cooper Gallery, November 7–December 12, 2015. The exhibition includes nearly 100 works from the house and studio where Oldenburg has lived since 1971 and which he shared with his wife and partner Coosje van Bruggen from 1976 until her passing in 2009. By offering an intimate look at works that stayed on with the artists, the exhibition presents a unique view into a creative practice whose end Oldenburg has described as “developing a language of both exterior and interior life, in one expression.” Embracing what he calls “the poetry of everywhere,” Claes Oldenburg reimagines commonplace objects in distorted scale, materiality and hue. His exaggerated forms breathe vitality and tactile lyricism into ubiquitous or overlooked articles. The works on view in Things Around the House render fantastic or unfamiliar subjects that are usually prosaic and mundane.