The
Free Stamp is an outdoor sculpture located in Willard Park. Created by
Claes Oldenburg and his wife
Coosje van Bruggen, it has been called the "world's largest
rubber stamp". The dimensions of the sculpture are by by . The sculpture depicts a rubber stamp with the word "FREE" in its stamping area. The work was commissioned by
The Standard Oil Company (Ohio) in 1982 The piece was originally designed to stand upright, with the lettering of the stamp hidden from view on its "stamp pad". According to one of the executives working with Oldenburg, the message on the stamp was intended as a reference to the Civil War-era
Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, located across the street. In an interview with
WKYC-TV at the sculpture's 1991 dedication, Oldenburg said the stamp's message, "Free," referred to the emancipation of American slaves during and after the Civil War. Controlling interest in Standard Oil had previously been acquired by
BP as part of the financing arrangements for construction of the Trans Alaska pipeline and oil rights to Prudhoe Bay reserves. BP executive
Robert Horton took over the management of the retitled company, BP America, before the sculpture was installed. He believed that the stamp was "inappropriate" for the location, and that Oldenburg actually intended to mock BP about Sohio's loss of corporate freedom and the lack of freedom in office work. The company gave the artists permission to move the sculpture to another part of the city, but they refused. As a result, the stamp was placed in storage in a facility in
Whiting, Indiana. In 1991, BP donated the sculpture to the city of Cleveland. The stamp was modified to sit on its side, and it was dedicated in its new location on November 15, 1991. At the dedication, Oldenburg told a WKYC-TV producer that it looked as if a giant hand had picked up the sculpture from its intended location at the
BP Tower and angrily hurled it several blocks, where it ended up on its side. == References ==