I chanced upon this LOVE sculpture near Winsland Plaza, located between Winsland House I & II. It comes with a blue front and green on the sides. For those who are old enough to remember this sculpture was originally installed close to the Glass House (which used to house TGIFridays and Fish & Co.) at Park Mall in 1993. Video Credit: 6abc Philadelphia
This LOVE sculpture is one in a series of works created by American artist Robert Indiana. Note that ‘Indiana’ was not his birth name. Robert chose this pseudonym as an artist as it is the name of the state in which he was born and where his father had a Philips 66 gas station.
Few sculptures have captured hearts quite like Indiana's iconic LOVE series. The composition of the piece comprised of two pairs of letters stacked in a square, with the L, V, and E standing tall around an O that is swooned on its side.
In this way, Indiana embedded the meaning of the word in its typography - knocked off balance, the letter O evokes every kind of passion. The LOVE sculpture add a Pop Art touch to their surroundings. Though aesthetically simple and seemingly straightforward, the LOVE series actually boast a fascinating history.
Although the first LOVE sculpture was crafted in 1970, the origins of its design can be traced back to the mid-60s, when the Museum of Modern Art in New York City commissioned Indiana to create a Christmas card. For the festive print, Indiana produced the familiar design we know today: the characters L, O, V, and E rendered in a serif typeface and stacked atop one another.
The bold red letters stand out against a backdrop that alternates between bright blue and green. When paired with the curiously crooked O, this color palette appears to imply playfulness, making the print accessible to a wide audience - and, subsequently, a perfect prototype for a work of public art.
While many people assume that LOVE was inspired by romance, it was actually shaped by Robert’s religious upbringing. Inspired by “God Is Love” slogan from his childhood church experiences, he explored the subject of love in several paintings before creating his first LOVE for personal Christmas cards in 1964.
The following year, he hit paydirt when the Museum of Modern Art commissioned him to design the Christmas card for their gift shop. While working on LOVE in 1965, Indiana’s father died. To pay tribute to his father he chose the following colours. The red and green recalls the sign of the Phillips 66 where his father worked, while the blue evokes the sky of his home state and chosen namesake, Indiana. LOVE quickly became the museum gift store most popular item.
The original LOVE sculpture, now housed in the Indianapolis Museum of Art - saw immediate success when it made its debut in 1970. Over the course of several decades, Indiana would go on to create more than 50 editions of the sculpture for sites around the world, from New York City and Philadelphia to Singapore and Taipei. While these pieces vary in scale and color palette, they were all rendered in Indiana's signature serifed style and always incorporate a tilted character.
Although LOVE brought Indiana great fame, financially he did not benefit much from it since it was never copyrighted. Despite the vast number of LOVE sculptures that exist around the world, Indiana began to resent the series, noting that he did not enjoy the mainstream fame that it brought him & LOVE overshadowed many of his other artistic contributions.
In 2018, Robert Indiana died at the age of 89. While he was undoubtedly displeased with the legacy of LOVE, the Pop Art masterpiece continued to hold an important place in the history of art - and in the hearts of people all over the world.
An interesting trivia, when John Lennon, viewed an exhibition from this series, he commented that "All You Need Is Love”, he amplified Indiana's statement, transforming it into a hit Beatles anthem and oft-repeated refrain.
