Robert Indiana: An Iconic Pop Artist's Early Life - Essay Sample

Introduction

The iconic pop artist Robert Indiana was born Robert Clark as the sole child to Earl Clark and Carmen Watters in Newcastle, Indiana. Later he took the name of his native state as his own. Soon after his parents divorced, he moved to live with his father in Indianapolis. He schooled in the Arsenal Technical High School as from 1942 to 1946. He furthered his education and completed his studies and travelled back to the United States and lived in New York City in 1954. In New York, he met with some other neighboring artists with whom he shared his studio for some time. In the early 1960s, he started engaging with the tradition of America by painting plain, explicit canvases that used painted letters and numeric, solid blocks of color and repeated geometric forms. Several of his paintings explored the subject of love due to his inspiration for the slogan 'God is love' from his childhood church experiences. He created his first LOVE for personal Christmas cards in the year 1964. He was commissioned the following year to design similar Christmas cards by MoMA for their gift shop. He portrayed the four letters in a bold font and color scheme of red, green and blue and it soon became one of the most popular items from the store. In 1970, the first of many LOVE sculptures were built. Since then, he traveled around the world and created over fifty editions of the LOVE sculptures. The creator of the LOVE sculpture died at the age of 89 in 2018.

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The LOVE sculpture is composed of two balances of letters set in a square, with the L, V, and E standing tall around an O that has been knocked off balance evoking every kind of passion. Letters L and O are placed on top of V and E. The letters are in bold and painted in red and stand out against a background that alternates between bright blue and green. The blending of the colors paired with the curiously twisted O, implies playfulness hence making the design available to a broad audience and, afterward, a seamless example for a work of public art. Indiana stated that the inspiration for the design and color was deeply personal since it was a tribute to his dead father. The red and green exhibited the sign of the Phillips 66 gas station where his dad worked, while the blue color suggested the sky of his home state, Indiana. The LOVE sculpture is made of polychrome aluminum. The dimensions of the statue are; 12foot by 12foot by 6foot. The sculpture was installed on the Avenue of the Americas in New York City.

However, recently Indiana's representatives informed conservators and the city of Philadelphia where one of the sculptures has been placed that instead of the original blue color that was used, they should have used purple color. The purple color makes the sculpture unique from other versions installed in other cities. The 830-pound structure is an essential piece of the city's landscape and identity and undoubtedly one of its most detectable public works. The bright colors make the piece of art noticeable from quite a distance, and its position near a fountain in Philadelphia makes it more appealing.

Indiana's love sculpture has used the red, blue and green colors which are light primaries that are colors created by light hence implying that the statue is additive. The sculpture is free standing and is not attached to any background an implication that the sculpture is an in-the-round type of artwork. Moreover, Indiana had access to fewer amounts of aluminum; hence he was able to create sculptures with few letters like HOPE, EAT, DIE, and his most popular LOVE. All his LOVE sculptures are brightly colored making easily identifiable from a distance. Most of them are elevated for instance the one in New York is placed on a 7foot elevated steel base, and the one in Philadelphia is placed on a granite block close to a fountain making the scene more eye-catching.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the LOVE sculpture done by Robert Indiana is one of the most iconic pieces of art in existence up to date. The artist got his inspiration from his juvenile encounters while going to a Christian Science church; the only decoration that was on the wall was "God is Love." The sculpture for the people of New York symbolizes a landmark for their city that they hope for, cherish and memorize. People have 'found love' in the LOVE park through marriage proposals, weddings and even the numerous selfies people take around the sculpture. LOVE is a well-done piece of art.

Reference

Jaworski, Adam. "Word cities and language objects:'Love'sculptures and signs as shifters." Linguistic Landscape 1.1 (2015): 75-94.