
Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen, Dropped Cone, March 2001.
Stainless and galvanized steels, fiber-reinforced plastic, balsa wood, painted with polyester gelcoat
Neumarkt Galerie, Cologne, Germany.
Height: 39 feet 10 inches inches
Diameter: 19 feet inches
"Our proposal called for a giant ice cream cone dropped upside down on one of the top corners of the building, tilted forward, so that melting ice cream would appear to drip over the windows. In her presentation of the work, Coosje referred to the Dropped Cone as both a 'cornucopia of consumerism' and a 'sign of transience.'
The sculpture's tilt differentiated it from the surrounding church steeples, while the emphasis on the cone form separated it from the advertising variations found in the street. We applied a diamond pattern in relief, giving the cone an architectural character. The 'ice cream' mass, its shape a convincing reflection of the impact of the 'dropping' of the cone, resulted from lengthy experimentation with a clay model. While our presentation drawing for the sculpture had shown several colorful flavors, Coosje reduced the final choice to a single luminous vanilla."