Robert Indiana’s “Love” sculpture continues to attract attention on Sixth Ave. in Midtown (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
LOVE by Robert Indiana
Southeast corner of 55th St. & Sixth Ave.
www.robertindiana.com
Pop artist and Warhol protege Robert Indiana, who was born Robert Clark but changed his last name to the state where he was born, has work in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery in Washington, DC, the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, the Whitney, and other prestigious locales, but the self-described “American painter of signs” is most famous for a single four-letter word. His iconic Midtown depiction of the word “Love,” which rests on two levels, in red letters with a tilted “O,” continues to attract tourist photos and people looking for a place to sit on their lunch hour. Dating from 1966, the statue, which has a smaller sibling in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, evokes a “so-what” attitude from many native New Yorkers, but it’s hard to pass by and not be enamored with the bold splash of color it brings to an otherwise gray corner. The big red letters with blue interiors brashly proclaim a word so many people are afraid to say, except perhaps at this time of year, when Valentine’s Day brings out the romantic in us all, for completely artificial reasons.