LOVE (Indianapolis)
| LOVE | |
|---|---|
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| Artist | Robert Indiana |
| Year | 1970 |
| Type | Cor-ten steel |
| Dimensions | 370 cm × 370 cm × 180 cm (144 in × 144 in × 72 in) |
| Location | Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana |
| 39°49′33.16″N 86°10′59.42″W / 39.8258778°N 86.1831722°W | |
| Owner | Indianapolis Museum of Art |
LOVE is an artwork by American artist Robert Indiana, located at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA), in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the United States. It was created in 1970 as the first sculptural form of the artist's famous LOVE painting and has been on continuous exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art since it was acquired in 1975.
This pop art sculpture consists of three separate elements fabricated from 3/8 inch-thick sheets of Cor-ten steel. They are bolted together to render the two-dimensional, text design in three-dimensional form. The hollow but enclosed block letters are 72 inches deep. The largest piece consists of the L stacked on top of the V and fashioned as one unit without a seam between the letters. The O and E are separate elements that attach to the LV. Two posts are installed on the top of the E for the alignment and stability of the O, which has corresponding openings on its lowest surface.
The right upper serif of the E comes into contact with and forms a smooth continuation to the proper left upper serif of the V. The bottommost curve of the O contacts the E in line with the E's inner vertical surface, and it contacts the L at the upper edge of the L's lower left serif.
Although the word "love" contained much significance to 1960s culture, Indiana attributes his connection with the word to an earlier, more personal source. Attending Christian Science church services as a child in Indianapolis, he was impressed by a small plaque over the reader's platform bearing the inscription "God Is Love." Indiana is no longer a practicing member of the church, but he insists that the message of LOVE be taken as a spiritual one.
The sculpture is based on the artist's original 1965 Christmas card design for MoMA, in which the majuscule letters of the word “love” are arranged in a 2×2 square, LO atop VE, and the O tilted to align with the diagonal of the square. MoMA's commission for the card came one year after Indiana had designed similar Christmas cards for close friends.
After pirated versions of the design began to appear in excess during the late 1960s, Indiana attempted to copyright his work, but this was rejected on the grounds that a single word cannot be protected. Some art critics believed his switch to the large-scale, three-dimensional version of the artwork was an effort by Indiana to reclaim his design in monumental fashion. Generally, however, the innovation of the letters standing as an independent form is seen as an aesthetic progression from his earlier sculptures which utilized typography painted upon flat surfaces.
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