Robert Indiana

ROBERT INDIANA (New Castle, Indiana, USA, 1938 - Vinalhaven, Maine, USA, 2018).
"Classic Love," 2007.
100% handmade Indian wool tapestry.
Signed, stamped and numbered on the label.
Edition of 10000.
Measurements: 80 x 80 cm.
All "LOVE" rugs are handmade in the city of Varasani. During the production process they practice respect for the environment and their workers, and do not use child labor. The manufacture of these rugs requires tremendous craftsmanship, as each rug is made from start to finish by a single artisan.
Robert Indiana is one of the preeminent figures in the American art scene since the 1960s, being the leader in the development of the assemblage technique, and the Hard Edge, and American Pop Art movements. Indiana studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and also at the Edinburgh School of Art. Besides being a painter, Robert Indiana has been a theatrical and costume set designer, in productions such as The Mother of Us All at the Santa Fe Opera, and acted in the film Eat directed by Andy Warhol. He proclaimed himself as "the American painter of signs" and throughout his long career he explored, and at the same time constructed, the American identity through diverse iconographies.
His particular visual language, which could be defined as 'lyricism', marked by slogans such as HUG, EAT and the famous "LOVE". It has become the emblem that continues to unite many artistic generations and is now part of the collective unconscious worldwide.
The iconic LOVE series, recognized by LO and VE stacked one on top of the other and arranged in a square, and to which our piece belongs, was first used in a set of poems written in 1958. Then, in the summer of 1965, MoMA commissioned Indiana to design Christmas cards, ultimately approving this red, blue and green design. Its true semantic translation is deeply linked to Christianity and the artist's childhood, educated according to the Church of Christ, Scientist. In an epistolary with collector Larry Aldrich, Indiana shares that there was a phrase 'God is Love' written by the founder of this church, Mary Baker Eddy, which was an unofficial motto of Scientist Christianity. From this was born the idea of higher love that Indiana ultimately wanted to convey through all of his work from the 1960s until his death. In 2008 Indiana created a very similar image for Barack Obama's presidential campaign, in which this symbol was used for various propaganda items.
Robert Indiana had hundreds of solo and group exhibitions worldwide. Particularly in Spain he exhibited three times, in 1992 at the Gallery 57, in 2009 at the Barcelona Gallery, and finally in 2012 at the Passion Museum in Valladolid.