In four chronologically organized chapters, this study traces the conceptual dependence and deep connectivity among Claes Oldenburg's poetry, sculpture, films, and performance art between 1956 and 1965.

Nadja Rottner is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

Introduction: Intermedial and Metaphorical Being 1. Rips out of Reality, or the Camera Eye in The Street 2. Annihilate-Illuminate: Photography, Polysemy, and Performance 3. The Mind as Storehouse 4. A Cinema without Film Epilogue: Art as Gesture