This is one of a few wooden items that sits on my desk, ostensibly to perform a function (usually clamping surfaces being glued) but really to play with.
The agreeable aspects of this peg are:
The dry texture of the wood. The way the surface is smooth but almost threatens not to be. The peg is pale, still clean, vulnerable to tarnish.
The way the peg is slightly larger than usual pegs. It is more solid. It declares itself.
The way the spring holds the two parts together. Its asymmetry.
The open and closing action. This uncomplex action is sufficient to keep me occupied, idiotically, for minutes at a time, mainly with testing the pressure of the spring on my thumb.
Its unfussy, utterly practical, design.
I have a lot of issues with monuments and monumental sculpture. My main objection being to the way they impose meanings with so little equivocation, so crudely.
You can respond, saying that Oldenburg is playing with this, attempting to subvert the traditional subject narratives of public monuments., with their grand historical themes and cast of important characters. Nonetheless, however the argumentation, his work remains is a big object which viewers have no control over, and cannot ignore.
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