How Claes Oldenburg Redefined What Sculpture Can Be

On the occasion of our exhibition of Claes Oldenburg’s work in Tokyo, Pace Founder and Chairman Arne Glimcher recounts memories of his first encounters with the artist—with whom he would maintain a 60-year friendship—in the early 1960s. Oldenburg’s first solo exhibition with Pace, which took place in Boston in 1964, featured works from his sculptural installation The Store. Here, Glimcher discusses Oldenburg’s radical and uncanny ability to transform everyday objects into animated sculptural entities, and how the artist changed “the history of what sculpture can be.” This & That, our lively presentation of Oldenburg’s work in Tokyo, continues through August 23, 2025.