Description: In Cleveland you can see this giant rubber stamp with the word FREE as print.
Standard Oil of Ohio (later purchased by BP, which merged with Amoco) commissioned artist Claes Oldenburg to create the 28-ft tall, 48-ft long steel office stamp in 1985. Intended for the voluminous lobby of their Euclid Avenue headquarters, the company had a change of management before its completion. The new boss didn't care much for a gigantic rubber stamp with the word "FREE" on it, so it was put in storage in a warehouse in Whiting, Indiana.
There it sat for seven years, until another corporate bigwig, Larry Fuller, questioned why Amoco was paying the storage fee on a big rubber stamp. In 1991, Amoco offered to donate it to Cleveland as a grand piece of public art. The city politely refused, noting that they didn't have the funds to install or maintain it. Amoco offered to do the whole job for "FREE" -- and the rest is rubber stamp history.
(From Roadside America) |
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