GLENN LOWRY: At the heart of The Store was this particularly lumpy-looking sculpture called Cash Register.
CLAES OLDENBURG: Well, of course you need a cash register if you have a store, right? If you saw a cash register of that period you would be surprised how abstract it is.
And it also made a wonderful ring when you pushed it. Da-ding! You know, big ring and so on. A lot of the objects you see, I mean, are completely out-of-date and then they become almost abstract and mysterious
The one rule of my work is that it must not have any function. It must be completely form. I begin by removing the function of the thing, because its true function is to become an artwork.