Artist Robert Indiana's "LOVE" sculpture has been a part of the
collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art since 1975.
Fabricated from Cor-Ten steel in 1970, the piece is part of
a series of drawings, paintings, prints, and sculptures the artist began
in the mid-1960s. The paintings became a watershed in Indiana's career,
and his exploration of the theme has been one he's returned to
many times in the years since.
Robert Indiana was born Robert Clark in New Castle, Indiana
in 1928. He changed his name upon his move to New York City
in 1954. The IMA has several pieces of Indiana's work in its collection, including
a series of aluminum numerals as well as screenprints and paintings.
I made the trip to the IMA with a specific mission in mind,
which was to photograph the LOVE sculpture. I took
a lot of pictures while inside the museum and taking pictures
on the museum's grounds became a struggle as the batteries'
power began to wane - click the shutter, wait a few minutes, repeat.
The streaks across the sky turned into a marvelous sunset;
streaked and formed by the air currents, the oranges, pinks and
mauves turned into the sort of composition one sees in the
end papers of old books, where color is poured over liquid then
a feather dragged through to make the design. Oh, my.
I saw several posts over the following days of that sunset,
taken by people all over the country.
I just wasn't one of them. Damn.
