This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Born Robert Clark in New Castle Indiana, in 1928, Robert Indiana
adopted the name of his native state as a pseudonymous surname early in
his career. "There have been many American SIGN painters, but there
never were any American sign PAINTERS." This exercise in emphasis sums
up Robert Indiana's position in the world of contemporary art. He
has taken the everyday symbols of roadside America and made them into
brilliantly colored geometric Pop Art*.
In his work he has
been an ironic commentator on the American scene. Both his
graphics and his paintings have made cultural statements on life and,
during the rebellious 1960s, pointed political statements as well.
Indiana
studied first at the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis* and then at
the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute in Utica, New York. From
there he went to the School of Art Institute of Chicago* where he
received a degree in 1953 and won a travelling fellowship to
Europe. In 1954, he attended Edinburgh University and Edinburgh
College of Art in Scotland.
In his paintings and constructions
he has given new meaning to such basic words as "EAT", "DIE" and
"LOVE". Using them in bold block letters in vivid colors, he has
enticed his viewers to look at the commonplace from a new
perspective. One indication of his success was the appearance of
his immensely popular multi-colored "LOVE" on a United States postage
stamp in 1973.
HIs LOVE series, which opened at the Stable
Gallery in New York in 1966, became one of the defining images of the
Pop Art era of the 1960s, but for him, the meaning was deeper than just
a comment on the commercial aspects of modern life.
He had a difficult childhood because he was adopted by parents whose
life was unstable, and his adopted mother, Carmen, died when he was age
20. His preoccupation with LOVE became an exploration of
complicated relationships and his spiritual nature. Carmen was of
German heritage, and in his LOVE depictions, he used the colors of West
Germany, which were yellow letters on a red and black ground.
Sources:
Michael David Zellman, 300 Years of American Art
New Orleans Auction Galleries, Catalogue of November 22, 2003
* For more in-depth information about these terms and others, see
AskART.com Glossary:
http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx
| |
This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  The following information is from Paul J. Rickey, Jr., Art Instructor, Linn-Benton Community College
Robert Clark (later Robert Indiana) attended Arsenal Technical High
School on a 75 acre campus in Indianapolis, Indiana. The art teachers
were professional artists. Garo Antresean (also on your list of
artists) attended Arsenal Technical High School and then as well as
Clark (Indiana) attended
John Herron School of Art.
I followed both to John Herron Art School myself. |
Biography from Art Cellar Exchange:
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The Quintessential Pop
Artist, Robert Indiana
Robert
Indiana was born Robert Clark in 1928 in New Castle, Indiana. Early in his career, the artist changed his
last name to Indiana, paying homage to his birth
state. Despite a fondness for his home, Indiana has spent most of his life
away from the state with which he shares a name. He moved to New York in 1954 and quickly began
working in the Pop Art style that was prevalent there at the time.
No artist has been more successful in fulfilling the ideology
of Pop Art than Robert Indiana. While
other Pop artists reproduced symbols of popular culture, Robert Indiana created
an icon with his “Love” artworks.
Executed in painting, sculpture and print form, the “Love” image is so
ingratiated in American culture that its existence as a work of art is almost
forgotten. The stacked, block-lettered
format has been used on Christmas cards, stamps, jewelry and coffee mugs. In perhaps the greatest form of adulation, Indiana’s
“Love” has been parodied in other pop culture mediums over the forty years
since it’s creation. Bands such as Rage
Against the Machine and Oasis have used the “Love” format on their album
covers. In the 80s, The American Foundation for
AIDS Research adopted the “Love” format in a painting designed to increase AIDS
awareness.
In
1978, Robert Indiana relocated to Maine. Since moving to New England, Indiana has maintained a special
connection to the city of Lewiston. The city has become a destination for art
lovers due to the celebrated Lewiston Fine Arts Festival and also because of
its most famous former resident, Marsden Hartley. In the early 1990s, Indiana created a series of
paintings he called “The Hartley Elegies” that were inspired by and created in
homage to American modernist Marsden Hartley.
The composition of these works was inspired by Harley’s “German Officer”
paintings from 1914-1915.
A
kinship between Indiana’s bold works saturated with
primary colors and the works of Marsden Hartley is evident. Indiana felt a personal connection
to Hartley, as well. Both men have been
pivotal figures in American art and Indiana related to the social
messages in Hartley’s work that address issues of discrimination.
In
1995, the Weisman Art Museum sponsored an exhibition of
both Hartley’s canvases and Indiana’s “Hartley Elegies.” The show traveled from the Weisman Museum in Minnesota to Chicago's Terra Museum of American
Art and ended at the Florida International University Art Museum. “Indiana in Lewiston” was the printed work
created from the painting “Kv. F VII” from “The Hartley Elegies.” A print from the collection was donated to
the Lewiston Public Library where it is currently displayed.
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Biography from Denis Bloch Fine Art Ltd.:
| Robert Indiana (born Robert Clark) was born in New Castle, Indiana on
September 13, 1928. He adopted the name of his native state as a
pseudonymous surname early in his career. In 1953, Indiana
received a degree form the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and
in 1954, attended the Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland.
Indiana
moved to New York in 1956, where he became associated with the Pop Art
movement and began to paint in a geometric*, hardedge style, blending
commercial art* and existentialism, which Indiana termed ‘sculptural
poems’. With his first New York solo exhibition at Eleanor Ward's
Stable Gallery in 1962, Indiana began a long career of showcasing his
works in over 30 museums and galleries. In 1964, he worked with
artist Andy Warhol, creating Eat, a 45-minute film of Indiana eating a mushroom in his loft.
"There
have been many American SIGN painters, but there never were any
American sign PAINTERS." This exercise in emphasis sums up Robert
Indiana's position in the world of contemporary art. Steeped in
his Midwestern roots, he has taken the everyday symbols and verbiage of
roadside America and made them into boldly colored art. Indiana
has been an ironic commentator on the American scene as his graphics
and paintings have made cultural statements on life and, during the
rebellious 1960s, pointed political statements as well.
Indiana
is most well known for his iconic LOVE artworks. Originally
created in 1964 as a Christmas card design for the Museum of Modern
Art, the artwork was reproduced on United States Postal Service postage
stamp in 1973. It sold more than 325 million units making it the
most popular stamp ever issued, barring Christmas stamps. Indiana was
paid $1000 by the US Postal Service.
In the tradition of LOVE,
Indiana created HOPE and donated all proceeds from the sales of its
reproduction on t-shirts, pins, posters, bumper stickers to Barack
Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. The artist has called HOPE “Love’s
close relative."
Indiana has lived and worked in Vinalhaven, Maine since 1978.
QUOTE:
"Pop Art is the American Dream, optimistic, generous and naïve!”
Select Museum Collections:
Whitney Museum of American Art, NY
Museum of Modern Art, NY
Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Walker Art Center, MN
Tate Gallery, London
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| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
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Robert Indiana is also mentioned in these AskART essays:
Modernism
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