Floor Burger, 1962
Canvas filled with foam rubber and cardboard boxes, painted with latex and Liquitex
4 ft. 4in. (1.32 m ) high; 7 ft. (2.13 m) diameter
The Art Gallery of Ontario is home to Claes Oldenburg's work Floor Burger, created in 1962 and purchased by the AGO for their permanent collection in 1967. Floor Burger stands 4 feet, 4 inches tall, by 7 feet in diameter and the acquisition was not without protest from the public, who viewed the sculpture as not appropriate for the gallery.
Floor Burger, originally titled Giant Hamburger , marks Oldenburg's journey to making soft sculptures that were focused on "everyday items… presented on a magnified scale that reverses the traditional relationship between viewer and object". The piece is iconic because it was the first time sculpture had been associated with Pop Art.
We love this work because it has an element of humor and the burger has a personality of its own. While the paint has chipped away and the colours have faded, Floor Burger has remained to this day an important piece within the Pop Art movement and breaks free from the notion that sculptures must be hard and rigid objects.
Floor Burger is currently on display as a part of the SuperReal: Pop Art from the AGO Collection exhibition on their main floor.
