In the mid-1960s, Oldenburg became fascinated with the recent inventions of the miniskirt and go-go boots. He mused over how "revolutionary this paradoxical combination of masculine voyeurism and feminine liberation seemed in its time. The architectural and fetishistic functions of knees were accentuated by the fashion of wearing boots with the mini, which created a sharply demarcated area of the body suitable for objectification." Working with the London-based publisher Editions Alecto, Oldenburg created his London Knees, a copious portfolio of twenty-one prints imagining his knees as proposed colossal monuments situated around London and a pair of flesh-like, life-size knees with a base, all contained in a businessman's traveling valise.
Gallery label from From the Collection: 1960-69, March 26, 2016 - March 12, 2017.
