Blasted Pencil (Which Still Writes) by Claes Oldenburg

Claes Oldenburg’s sculptures, though playful and colorful, often hold open-ended meanings and interpretations for those who wish to see them. Though Oldenburg largely avoided criticism for the political themes he covered in his work, they are particularly apparent in his sketches. This sketch, for example, Proposal for a Monument for the Survival of the University of El Salvador: Blasted Pencil (Which Still Writes), created in 1984, references a turbulent time of censorship for the University of El Salvador. 

After a student uprising against the government in 1972, the government, in an attempt to silence opposition, ordered that the university be overtaken by troops that violently occupied the campus until the end of 1973. Even after the occupation ended, the government continued to censor discussion on campus in an effort to quell the Marxist ideology that officials worried were spreading throughout the university. This censorship continued as El Salvador entered a 13-year long civil war in 1979, during which the university was under military occupation for the first four years. Oldenberg’s sketch of a “blasted pencil (which still writes)'' was created right after this last occupation, reflecting the state of a university that, though ripped apart, could still function.