logo
Beyond ‘LOVE,' The Enduring Legacy Of Robert Indiana Resonates Deeply Through Pace Gallery Representation

Beyond ‘LOVE,' The Enduring Legacy Of Robert Indiana Resonates Deeply Through Pace Gallery Representation

Forbes08-05-2025

Robert Indiana, A Divorced Man Has Never Been the President, 1961–62, oil on canvas, 60" × 48" ... More (152.4 cm × 121.9 cm),
Throughout his presidency, John F. Kennedy averaged a 70.1% approval rating, handily the highest of any post-World War II U.S. president. While his alleged mistresses and lovers included movie stars Marilyn Monroe and Marlene Dietrich, White House intern Marion Fay "Mimi" Alford (née Beardsley), Judith Exner (who also claimed to be the paramour of Chicago Outfit boss Sam Giancana and mobster John "Handsome Johnny" Roselli), American painter Mary Pinchot Meyer, Swedish aristocrat Gunilla von Post, and Pamela Turnure (the first first Press Secretary hired to serve a U.S. First Lady), Kennedy only married once.
More than six decades later, the country is led by a man who has been married three times and divorced twice, with the most dismal 100-day job approval rating of any president in the past 80 years.
Robert Indiana was exposing the sanctimony of a system where leaders are held to higher standards than the people they serve, with his cutting critique in A Divorced Man Has Never Been the President (1961-1962). A preeminent figure in American art since that time, Indiana was directly referencing Nelson Rockefeller, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1960, 1964, and 1968, losing the party's favor after he divorced his first wife Mary Todhunter Clark ​ in 1962 and married ​ Margaretta Large Fitler (A.K.A. Happy) a year later.
A blue star in the center is flanked between each point by five green circles emblazoned with 'US' in blue, signifying the infusion of envy and greed into the colors of the American flag. The composition, featuring a circle emblazoned with text above stenciled letters expressing the title, recurs in Indiana's paintings from the early 1960s. In this work, Indiana eschews the periods in the abbreviation so that 'US' can be dually interpreted as the collective inhabitants and the country itself.
In 1961-1962, the U.S. political climate was icy, amid escalating strife with the Soviet Union, but there was a warmth emanating from the burgeoning counterculture movement. Sadly, today's political revolt is divorced from the cultural and artistic values that define and empower humanity.
The timing is uncannily ripe for Robert Indiana: The American Dream, a major exhibition at the New York flagship of Pace Gallery, showcasing pristine examples of paintings and sculpture created from the early 1960s and evolving over decades. The groundbreaking presentation opens Friday at the 540 West 25th Street gallery and remains on view until August 15.
'In our world, what's urgent is that really great artists have a tendency sometimes to disappear and to be rediscovered. It's always great to rediscover an artist, especially one who has such vast influence,' Pace CEO Marc Glimcher said in a phone interview.
Indiana's oeuvre is 'deeply embedded in the context of his entire contribution to art and to Pop Art, which was enormous,' Glimcher continued. 'If we just look at all the artists using words and language to make their art today, and 10 years ago. and 20 years ago, we can see how much influence Robert Indiana had.'
Robert Indiana, The Black Marilyn , 1967/1998 PAINTING Oil on canvas 102 x 102 in. (259.1 x 259.1 ... More cm), diamond
This essential exhibition examines Indiana's inquiry into the duality of the American Dream, highlighting the connections between the artist's personal history and the social, political, and cultural nuances of postwar America.
'It's a treasure trove of work from the 60s, 70s, 80s, works we don't see that often. By this stage, there's only kind of late work left, usually when you start working with an artist like this. So we just have the capacity to show in the gallery a bunch of real masterworks, but we obviously got amazing loans from museums as well,' said Glimcher, who recalls meeting Indiana as a child.
Indiana abandoned New York for Vinalhaven, Maine, in 1978, where he lived in the Star of Hope, a Victorian building that had previously served as an Odd Fellows Lodge. His departure from the New York art world was partially entangled in lawsuits, and Pace was indispensable in his profound rediscovery.
The CEO's father, Arne Glimcher, the founder of Pace Gallery, included Indiana's work in a seminal 1962 group exhibition, Stock Up for the Holidays. Last year, Pace announced its global representation of The Robert Indiana Legacy Initiative, the primary organization advocating for the artist's achievement and maintaining a collection and archive of his extensive breadth of work. A pioneer who continues to influence generations of artists, Indiana utilized letters and numerals in his brazen sculptures, paintings, and prints, delving deep into American identity and iconography, and amplifying the power of abstraction. Indiana called himself an 'American painter of signs,' developing a singular graphic visual lexicon that transformed American art. Pace now champions Indiana as a luminary in the global art world.
For many casual observers, Indiana is synonymous with his ubiquitous, quintessential LOVE sculptures with a slanted 'O'. The first iteration of the work in Cor-Ten steel was created in 1970, and acquired by the Indianapolis Museum of Art. With more than 50 LOVE sculptures around the world, there is often a lack of philosophical inquiry and the lazy temptation to take a monumental word at face value, especially in an Instagram age. Indiana was openly gay, though he didn't publicly display his sexuality. Instead, his art, particularly LOVE, was intertwined in his personal experiences and his romantic relationship with painter, sculptor, and printmaker Ellsworth Kelly.
Robert Indiana, The American Dream , 1992, Cast: 2015 SCULPTURE Painted bronze 83 7/8 × 35 1/2 × 11 ... More 13/16 in. (213 × 90 × 30 cm) Edition of three plus one artist's proof.
'We started last year, when we had an exhibition called The Sweet Mystery, which was presented in Venice. We started with this sort of entry point into Indiana's world, arising in New York. One of the main aspects that we are trying to do as we are building upon the legacy of this great American artist is to introduce his storytelling. This idea of where his name comes from, where he came from, how he arrived to where he became a great American figure having created quite possibly, one of the most iconic works,' said Robert Indiana Legacy Initiative Managing Director Emeline Salama-Caro, who investigates 'what's behind him as an artist, what he's trying to convey. One of the most significant themes in his work, obviously, is that of the American Dream, which is an autobiographical reflection, but also profound commentary on the American Dream itself, both the optimism and the aspirations, but also the challenges and the contradictions. I think that, given today's social-political landscape, these things are more relevant than ever.'
Robert Indiana, The Demuth Five, 1963, oil on canvas, 64" × 64" (162.6 cm × 162.6 cm), diamond, ... More PAINTING, #93211, Format of original photography: high res PSD
Salama-Caro continued: 'What we're trying to do with this exhibition in New York, and all the exhibitions that we are thinking of, is to expand to a new generation, to engage with Indiana's poignant reflections of being an artist who's so connected with his identity to America. This is a person who was an extremely cerebral human being. This is someone who's very introspective, yet he came from the Midwest … It is very well documented about his life and being an adopted child and sort of not feeling that he was really part of this family, and all the difficulties and psychological traumas that came with that. But if you learn a little bit about him, he was a valedictorian, he was part of the Latin society. Poetry is something that's so important to him. He was able to travel outside of America. But he came back and realized that, for him, the landscape, the history, the geography (of America) is so integral to his work, and yet he's presenting it in a way, a style, that is so different to what we're seeing out of the postwar period. You've got this moment of Abstract Expressionism. There's a lot of gesture, there's all these layers, and as you start to unpack that, it's the story, it's the narrative which makes Indiana's work very interesting, and it can be related to so many different things that we're feeling today.'
Robert Indiana, Apogee, 1970, oil on canvas, 60" × 50" (152.4 cm × 127 cm), PAINTING, ... More #91756, Alt # MAF-P-020, Format of original: high res TIF
Born in 1928 as Robert Clark in New Castle, Indiana, some 44 miles east-northeast of Indianapolis, the artist proclaimed himself an 'American painter of signs' and his legacy positions him as a towering figure in art history. His career celebration comes full circle with a return to Pace, which unravels the verisimilitude of his persona and outlook on life, embracing the deep emotions behind his multi-faceted art.
'Everybody knows that the gestalt of the Abstract Expressionists was so intense and their lives showed it. And there's a (misconception) that these Pop Artists were having fun and being clever and not showing their soul. And that is not true. And that is especially not true for Robert Indiana,' said Marc Glimcher. 'His portrayal of the American Dream (embodies) all of his personal hope and torment, a very complex personal story, and this is true for all of those artists. This was still them spilling their guts.'

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Ari Aster's ‘Eddington' Sharply Divides Cannes: Star Pedro Pascal Defends a Western About ‘Our Worst Fears' Amid Lockdown
Ari Aster's ‘Eddington' Sharply Divides Cannes: Star Pedro Pascal Defends a Western About ‘Our Worst Fears' Amid Lockdown

Yahoo

time20 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Ari Aster's ‘Eddington' Sharply Divides Cannes: Star Pedro Pascal Defends a Western About ‘Our Worst Fears' Amid Lockdown

When writer/director Ari Aster stood up for the ovation after the Cannes premiere of his divisive 2020-set Western 'Eddington' (July 16, A24), he said, 'I feel very privileged to be here. This is a dream come true. Thank you so much for having me. And, I don't know, sorry?' Indeed, festival attendees have been fiercely divided by his 145-minute portrait of a fictional New Mexico town wracked by COVID, BLM, ACAB, you-name-it-2020-buzz-concept during the darkest season of American lives in recent memory. Joaquin Phoenix (Aster's 'Beau Is Afraid') plays a conservative sheriff who decides to run against his Gavin Newsom-esque, pro-masks-and-testing adversary, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), in the local mayoral election. More from IndieWire The Cannes 2025 Films So Far Most Likely to End Up in the Oscar Race 'Imago' Review: Chechen Documentary Explores a Filmmaker's Conflicted Return to His Roots Meanwhile, at home, Phoenix's character Joe Cross is in a quarantine bubble with his hysteria-addled wife Louise (Emma Stone) and her far-right conspiracy-obsessed mother Dawn (Deirdre O'Connell), the type for whom hydroxychloroquine was presumably a panacea. But Joe's campaign is all anti-masks, anti-vax, with the threat of cult leader Vernon Jefferson Peak (Austin Butler) also posing a challenge to his political and personal life. The film has sparked massive debates up and down the Croisette since premiering Friday night, with the starriest red carpet thus far and a press conference Saturday afternoon featuring Aster with his actors Phoenix, Pascal (in a sleeveless top), Stone (in a pixie haircut, her hair growing back presumably after shaving it off for Yorgos Lanthimos' upcoming 'Bugonia'), and Michael Ward, who plays Phoenix's next-in-command. IndieWire has talked to people who loved or hated the film, with rarely any opinion in between and certainly never without a strong response of some kind from anyone — whether out of boredom or raptures over Aster's in-your-face replay of our worst COVID-times memories. 'Eddington' could be a tough sell for audiences unwilling to be submersed again in summer 2020 and all the chaos and anxieties it erupted. Other pundits I've spoken to defend 'Eddington' as a necessary social satire that mocks and derides the panic of that year, while encapsulating it all into one movie as never before. IndieWire critic David Ehrlich wrote in his rave review that 'few other filmmakers would have the chutzpah required' to pull this movie off, 'and we should probably all be grateful that none of them have tried.' 'It's very scary to participate in a movie that speaks to issues like this,' Pascal said at the press conference. 'It's far too intimidating a question for me to address. I'm not informed enough. I want people to be safe and protective. I want very much to be on the right side of history.' 'Eddington' indeed takes shots at both sides of the aisle, roasting liberal posturing in the form of social justice youth like Sarah (Amélie Hoeferle), who posts TikToks about James Baldwin and rants about having any position at all on 'stolen land.' Phoenix's sheriff character, meanwhile, could only be wrought from the era of Trump, as he rails against mask mandates and is suspicious of the George Floyd-inspired protests shaking up his community. At one point, he swaggers into a grocery store with the pompousness of Western's most classic, gun-on-the-hip cowboys. Pascal added, 'I felt like [Aster] wrote something that was all our worst fears as that lockdown experience was already a fracturing society. This was building toward an untethered sense of reality. There is a point of not going back. I was overwhelmed by that fear, and it's wonderful that it was confirmed by Ari.' Aster, whose latest feature is a hairpin departure from the genre thrills and chills of films like 'Hereditary' and 'Midsommar' and is far from the spirit of intrusive-thought-induced weirdness of 'Beau Is Afraid,' added, 'I wrote this movie in a state of fear and anxiety. I wanted to try and pull back and show what it feels like to live in a world where nobody can agree on what is real anymore.' 'Eddington' is his first feature to premiere at Cannes. 'I feel like we're on a dangerous road, and we're living in an experiment that hasn't gone well,' Aster said (via Deadline) about his MAGA- and liberal-skewering Western. 'I feel there is no way out of it… Mass liberal democracies always had this fundamental agreement we agree what we're arguing about, that system was coming from power. So it's not like suddenly there's this bad power out there. It's always been there, but right now it's chaos.' Stone, who connected with Aster amid his 2024 'Beau Is Afraid,' said that her research into the conspiracy theories that turn her character against her husband even ended up modifying her personal social media algorithms (via Variety). 'The only additional thing that scared me a little bit in the algorithm system was looking into some of the things that are in this film that haven't been in my algorithm, unfortunately, added them to my algorithm,' she said. 'Because once you start Googling it, you start seeing more and more things. So it's a real rabbit hole, very quickly. Unfortunately, I'm still getting fed some crazy shit.' 'Eddington' is still the most conversation-starting Competition premiere at Cannes, with critics split over its social message and pacing (it's currently at 63 on Metacritic, where you can find reviews all over the map). How A24 will market this movie — only one teaser has been released so far, showing Phoenix doom-scrolling through familiar images of the deepest COVID era — is an intriguing question in the lead-up to its July theatrical release. Alex Garland's 'Civil War,' another post-COVID story of national conflict, did well for A24 last year, grossing more than $127 million by tapping into a fascination factor over a divided United States. Who will 'Eddington' appeal to? Either way, it's pitting Cannes audiences against each other — Screen Daily called it a 'wan satire,' while Variety deemed it 'brazenly provocative' — and will no doubt continue to stoke debate into the summer. Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie The 55 Best LGBTQ Movies and TV Shows Streaming on Netflix Right Now

26 Extremely Rare And Fascinating Pictures From History That Will Completely And Totally Change Your Perspective On The Past
26 Extremely Rare And Fascinating Pictures From History That Will Completely And Totally Change Your Perspective On The Past

Buzz Feed

time34 minutes ago

  • Buzz Feed

26 Extremely Rare And Fascinating Pictures From History That Will Completely And Totally Change Your Perspective On The Past

Before airplanes were pressurized for commercial use, flyers had to wear oxygen masks at higher altitudes: This picture is from 1939 and taken while 20,000 feet in the air. During World War II, the USS Trigger got close enough to Japan on patrol to take a picture through its periscope of Mount Fuji: This is from 1943. Fascinating stuff! The Michelin Man not only used to be absolutely terrifying, but he used to run with a gang of several other musically inclined Michelin men: Chet Baker is shaking. Tourists in Egypt used to be able to climb on top of the Great Pyramid all willy-nilly: Let's be thankful there are some stricter rules about visiting the landmark. These gigantic contraptions are apparently one of the first life preservers ever made: They're made out of mattresses but something tells me they aren't comfortable. This picture, taken in 1942, shows a New York Times employee creating that day's layout of the Sports page: "Boy, this Mort Cooper guy can really slang it." This is selection of prosthetic face parts designed for World War I veterans: Here's what one of those prosthetics looked like in action: This is Australian javelin thrower Reg Spiers, best known for literally mailing himself in a big giant box from London to Australia in the 1960s: Spiers was broke and needed to figure out a way home to his family, so he did what any person would have done: he posted himself. This is the 5x3x2.5 foot box Spiers mailed himself in: The journey took over two days. Spiers stuffed himself in the box with some "tinned food, a torch, a blanket and a pillow, plus two plastic bottles - one for water, one for urine." You can read more about the whole ordeal here. This is frogman Courtney Brown towing a 55 scale model of the Titanic during the filming of the movie Raise The Titanic: The movie was, well, about raising the Titanic from the ocean floor. Interestingly enough, because the movie was made in 1980, the wreck of the ship had yet to be found. That's why "the wreck" is in one big piece here. Here's what the wreck of the model of the wreck of the Titanic looks like today: Slightly worse than the one in the Atlantic, I'd say. This is Robert Earl Hughes, the one-time world's heaviest man and his pet dog: At his heaviest, Robert weighed over 1,000 pounds. Eleven days in October had to be skipped after the Gregorian calendar was adopted in 1582: A wise person on Reddit hipped the internet to the fact that if you scroll back in your phone long enough, you can see it for yourself. Here's what gorilla's fingerprint looks like compared to a human's: Gorillas: they're just like us. This is what a whole bunch of wind turbines look like from way above: Like they're floating! This is a replica of what was apparently the world's largest polar bear, standing tall at 12 feet and weighing over 2,200 pounds: That, and I don't say this lightly, is one big bear. This is the crew of the USS Hunchback, taken in Virginia at the end of the Civil War. Unlike the army, the Union's navy was actually integrated: I think I would have also been the banjo player during the Civil War. This is what British World War I victory medal looks like: Too bad there would be another Great War for civilization less than two decades later. This is the first computer Apple ever developed: It looks nothing like an apple. Not even like an orange. This is a Corinthian helmet and the skull that wore it from the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC: Chilling stuff. This is what a pick-up truck from 1985 looks like compared to the behemoths that are modern pick-up trucks: Poor l'il guy. Owls have big ol' long legs: Check out the gams on Birdie. This is a list of the causes of death of everyone who died in London in 1632: Me, personally? I'm dying from "Planet." This was the scene aboard the ship The Queen Elizabeth as it brought soldiers back home to New York after World War II ended: I hate to say it... but imagine having to use the bathroom? Nightmare. And, finally, this is what Nicolas Cages' father, August Coppola, looked like: Incredible stuff.

Fans React to Coco Gauff's Gen Z Behavior After Winning the French Open
Fans React to Coco Gauff's Gen Z Behavior After Winning the French Open

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Fans React to Coco Gauff's Gen Z Behavior After Winning the French Open

Fans React to Coco Gauff's Gen Z Behavior After Winning the French Open originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Coco Gauff didn't just celebrate her first French Open title like a champion but she did it in true Gen Z way. Advertisement The 21-year-old added another milestone to her impressive resume with a hard-fought 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 win over world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka at the Roland Garros final. In her speech, the American tennis star expressed her gratitude to the audience at the Court Philippe-Chatrier, who had been cheering for her. "The crowd really helped me today, you guys were cheering for me so hard and I don't know what I did to deserve so much love from the French crowd," she said, as mentioned by CBS News, adding, "But I appreciate you, guys." To mark the moment, Gauff shared a celebratory video on TikTok. Advertisement While the Georgia native successfully posted the clip on the app, it was the behind-the-scenes footage that had caught fans' attention. In the video, she is seen placing her camera on a bench before dancing and twirling with the silver trophy in hand. As the tennis champion prepared to film another take, she accidentally dropped the lid of the trophy, sparking laughter and a wave of amused reactions online. 'Such a Gen Z vibe,' one wrote. 'She is so cute. New generation tennis player,' a second user said. A commenter expressed the same thought and added, 'Very Gen Z coded,' while a fan called her a 'TikTok baddie!!' Advertisement Others also poked fun at her hilarious gesture and noted, 'When you are a content creator and a tennis Champ.' 'Lol!!! I just love that she played lights out and then went twirling making content! Back to being a 21-year-old! Lmao! We stan a versatile QUEEN!' a commenter added. Coco Gauff of the United States poses with the trophy after winning the French Open women's singles final against Aryna Mullane-Imagn Images A fan seemed to agree and remarked, 'Yeehaa! This is a new thing, making TikToks straight after you won a grand slam!!!' With her recent victory, Gauff bounced back from her losses in 2022 and 2023, becoming the first American woman to win the French Open title since Serena Williams in 2015. Related: Coco Gauff's Outfit Turns Heads at French Open After Hilarious Blunder This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 9, 2025, where it first appeared.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store