'The Store' Manifesto

I am for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum.
I am for an art that grows up not knowing it is art at all...
I am for an art that embroils itself with the everyday crap and still comes out on top...
I am for an art that takes its form from the lines of life itself, that twists and extends and accumulates and spits and drips, and is heavy and course and blunt and sweet and stupid as life itself.
I am for an art that a kid licks, after peeling away the wrapper...
I am for an art that is smoked, like a cigarette, smells, like a pair of shoes.
I am for an art that flaps like a flag, or helps blow noses, like a handkerchief.
I am for an art that is put on and taken off, like pants, which develops holes, like socks, which is eaten , like a piece of pie, or abandoned with great contempt, like a piece of shit.

written by Claes Oldenburg as the manifesto for the opening of The Store in New York.