Robert Indiana
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Robert Indiana (born September 13, 1928) is an American artist associated with the Pop Art movement. Indiana was born Robert Clark in New Castle, Indiana.
Indiana moved to New York City in 1954 and joined the pop art movement, using distinctive imagery drawing on commercial art approaches blended with existentialism, that gradually moved toward what Indiana calls "sculptural poems". Indiana's work often consists of bold, simple, iconic images, especially numbers and short words like "EAT", "HUG", and "LOVE". He is also known for painting the unique basketball court formerly used by the Milwaukee Bucks in that city's U.S. Cellular Arena, with a large M shape taking up each half of the court.
Indiana has been a theatrical set and costume designer, such as the 1976 production by the Santa Fe Opera of Virgil Thomson's The Mother of Us All, based on the life of suffragist Susan B. Anthony. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Indiana produced a series of Peace Paintings, which were exhibited in New York in 2004.
Despite his early success at the center of the art world, Indiana retreated to rural obscurity in later life. Indiana has lived as a resident in the island town of Vinalhaven, Maine since 1978.
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[edit] LOVE
Indiana's best known image is the word "LOVE" in a square with a tilted "O". This image, first created for a Christmas card for the Museum of Modern Art in 1964, was included on an 8 cent United States Postal Service postage stamp in 1973, the first of their regular series of "love stamps." Sculpture versions are on display at: Sixth Avenue in New York City; the Pratt Institute campus in Brooklyn, NY; the Indianapolis Museum of Art; Scottsdale's Civic Center, in so called "LOVE Park" in Philadelphia, the New Orleans Museum of Art's sculpture garden and on the University of Pennsylvania campus. There is also a "Love" Sculpture at the Red Rock Resort Spa and Casino in Las Vegas in the pool area.
[edit] Copyright status
Infamously, Indiana failed to register a copyright for the work, and found it difficult to deter unauthorized commercial use. The image has been reproduced in countless times in varying forms, including sculptures, posters, and 3-D desk ornaments. It has been translated into Hebrew, Chinese, and Spanish. It strongly influenced the original cover of Love Story, the Erich Segal novel. It was parodied on the Rage Against the Machine album cover for Renegades, as well as the cover for Oasis' single Little by Little from the 2002 album Heathen Chemistry. Artist Mathew Jones created an AIDS-protest homage that read "DEAD". Philadelphia anti-folk singer Adam Brodsky has a tattoo reading "DORK".
[edit] Skateboard culture
The LOVE emblem has been adopted by skateboarders, frequently used in skateboard magazines and videos. After skateboarding was banned in Philadelphia's LOVE Park, the emblem was used by organizations opposing the ban[1].
[edit] External links
- American Dream: Collaboration with American poet Robert Creeley at 2River
