Coca-Cola Bottle, #38,348
Howard Finster
American, 1916–2001
Details
Title
Coca-Cola Bottle, #38,348
Artist/Maker
Howard Finster (American, 1916–2001)
Date
1995
Medium
Paint on prefabricated plastic bottle
Dimensions
65 1/2 x 22 x 22 inches
Credit
T. Marshall Hahn Collection
Accession #
1996.175
Location
Currently not on view
This outsized Coca-Cola bottle belongs to a family of images depicting Finster's favorite drink. Finster divided the composition into three registers corresponding to the bottle's structural divisions, unifying the top and bottom portions by painting their backgrounds the same color. A host of Finster's familiar multihued angels accompanied by stars and spaceships in silver and bright tones circles the upper section. Paths leading around and up the bottle toward Heaven weave together the lower sections, which depict earthly realms. The cars that share the roadways with people and animals symbolize the danger of worldly thrills.