Robert Indiana biography

Robert Indiana, born as Robert Clark on September 13, 1928, in New Castle, Indiana, was an American artist associated with the Pop Art movement. Since the 1960s, Indiana has played a central role in the development of assemblage art, hard-edge, and pop art, becoming one of the leading figures in American art.
Since his childhood, Robert Indiana demonstrated a clear artistic talent, encouraged by a first-grade teacher who urged him to pursue an artistic career. After attending the Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis, Indiana studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Skowhegan School of Sculpture and Painting in Maine, and the Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland.
In 1956, he moved to New York, where he met Ellsworth Kelly and settled in Coenties Slip, an artist community that included Kelly, Agnes Martin, James Rosenquist, and Jack Youngerman. The Coenties Slip environment had a profound impact on the artist's work, who began creating pieces that incorporated words and numbers, inspired by materials found in the area's abandoned warehouses. Indiana's works often feature bold and iconic images, such as numbers and short words like EAT, HUG, and LOVE.
His artwork most known is undoubtedly the word LOVE, which was first created in 1964 for a Christmas card for the Museum of Modern Art. This image has become an icon of modern art and has been reproduced on stamps and countless products. Robert Indiana distinguished himself from other pop artists by addressing important social and political issues and incorporating historical and literary references into his works. He explored the illusory American dream, using words and numbers to create connections and perceptions in the viewer's mind. His works are characterized by symmetrical geometric shapes and bright colors, which recall the influences of advertising and mass media.
In addition to painting and sculpture, Robert Indiana produced a significant number of prints, also collaborating with the poet Robert Creeley. He worked as a set and costume designer for theater, contributing to the production of The Mother of Us All by Virgil Thomson in 1976.
In 1978, he decided to step away from the New York art world and moved to the remote island of Vinalhaven in Maine, where he continued to create works inspired by his new environment. He worked on a series of paintings inspired by the works of artist Marsden Hartley, who lived on the island in 1938.
Indiana's works have been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions around the world, and many of them are part of the permanent collections of major museums, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco.
Robert Indiana died on May 19, 2018, at his home in Vinalhaven, shortly before the opening of his sculpture retrospective at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. His legacy as one of the protagonists of American Pop Art and his ability to create works that explore American identity and the power of language continue to have a lasting impact on contemporary art.