Two series of gigantic aluminum letters piled on top of each other, their color is the red of passion and desire, together they form the word: LOVE.
A copy of LOVE will go to auction at Sotheby's on 6 March in London with an estimate of 608.244 – 829.424 EUR
The work is stamped with the artist's signature, dated 1966-2000 and numbered AP 2/4 on the left side, painted aluminum (183 by 183 by 91,5 cm). Conceived in 1966 and executed in 2000, this work is number 2 of 4 artist's proofs, apart from an edition of 6.
Instantly recognizable, LOVE by Robert Indiana is both exemplary of the artist's oeuvre and an icon of Pop Art.
Despite his reluctance to be considered a founding member of Pop Art, Indiana's talent for translating theoretical thought into sculptural form sets him apart as one of the genre's most recognized artists. Growing up moving from one city to another as a boy, Indiana spent a lot of time on the road with a family that could be described as pseudo-nomads. Highway road signs were companions and sources of inspiration. He attributed to the signs a peculiar cultural environment of the United States, Indiana so he said one day: “In Europe trees grow everywhere; in America, signs grow like trees; signs are more common than trees” (Robert Indiana quoted in: Joachim Pissarro, “Signs into art”, in: Simon Salama-Caro et al., Robert Indiana, New York 2006, page 59).
The physical form of the sculpture, simple yet surprising, represents the revolt of Pop Art against the suffocating academicism of Greenberg's Abstract Expressionism. While Greenberg's artists took refuge in the age of the Parisian salon and academy, the likes of Indiana, Warhol and Lichtenstein they embraced the industrial logic of the production line of the commercial culture of mass consumers. The work LOVE was originally intended for a Christmas card from the Museum of Modern Art and was repeatedly redesigned by Indiana to become this famous sculptural form in 1970 at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Since then other sculptures in a succession of colors and materials have appeared in museums and city centers around the world: the street signs of Indiana youth, LOVE must be read and interpreted by all.
Indiana's LOVE sculptures stand as shrines to the achievements of our contemporary world, reminding us of our bonds to one another, despite differences in politics, sexuality, and religion.
