The Essential Robert Indiana
Martin Krause
Prestel
The road-trip genre is one most are familiar with; a less visited aspect of travelling is that of signs, but Robert Indiana did his best to reverse this negligence, proclaiming himself to be 鈥渁n American painter of signs.鈥 Alive with primary colours, geometry and graphic detail, the painter鈥檚 work redressed the standard perception of these directional objects, turning them into symbolic messages. Although Indiana鈥檚 versions hold a clear command, as their predecessors do, his statements of 鈥淓AT鈥, 鈥淗OPE鈥 and 鈥淟OVE鈥 are more emotive than any street sign.
The Essential Robert Indiana collates the artist鈥檚 significant body of work and places it alongside text by Martin Krause, based on ongoing conversations with Indiana. Stumbling upon autobiographical elements within his work, Krause鈥檚 investigations uncover a personal attachment to the informative oblongs due to associations with the artist鈥檚 father.
Featuring more than 50 prints from the 1960s until 2010, and an essay by Pop Art scholar John Wilmerding, this retrospective offers a intimate account of Indiana鈥檚 unique visual language.
Hannah Clugston