I was to choose a name out of a hat at the beginning of the illustration course at uni, The name was Robert Indiana, and i was to research him throughout my course.
I found his work quite fascinating, He has inspired many and created such bold, unique pieces over the years, impacting on American history.
Robert Indiana is a highly influenced pop art image producer, his most famous image being the image of “ Love” which is very bold, bright and definitely makes a popular impact on the creative world.
His second name was changed from Clark to Indiana as most of his time was consumed moving around his home state Indiana. However New York was a big influence upon him as his dramatic imagery was gained throughout his stay there.
His more impressionable work such as the “love” peace and “hope” gained great admiration, as he produced them as sculptures and eye-popping paintings. First seen upon a Christmas card, the “love” piece was highly admired, as the public were drawn to the image.
Originally the idea for that style of artwork came from writing poetry, he had placed the words on top of each other to resemble a similar pattern in the image that is so popular now. So as that idea grew, he began to produce similar items and more copies of the image onto other types of media such as postage stamps.
The representation of these words within an image shows how he absorbed the style of modern life and placed it into his creations. Making each piece quite iconic and memorable, very distinctive to the modern eye.
His general work over the years has resembled quite a lot of American influence, pride and passion, along with pure abstract talent. Using simple words as a strong power against the popular culture was one of his ways of gaining media attention.
That is Robert in front of some of his most famous pieces "HOPE" and "LOVE" which have been reproduced in many forms over the years by himself and by others in inspiration. The style of the lettering has also been copied over the years in many formats.
Robert has influenced art within the typography area and also the general advertising industry.
Use of simple words such as “EAT” “LOVE” “PEACE” have inspired other companies, artists and illustrators/designers alike to follow behind, realising that the simple use of everyday words can gain peoples attention straight away, assembling letters together to form shape and controlled language is very beneficial for media, advertising and art.
Playing a big influence on american culture, many signs of Roberts style have been seen around the country and across the world, especially in developed cities such as New york, London, Paris etc.
Alongside his prominent text and lettering artwork, his early days were spent creating many traditional pieces with watercolour, pen, ink, graphite and many more traditional materials.
One of my favourites is named “my cousins general store” created in 1945, he observed everyday life and created a very cartoony styled piece, with loose colours and tones, This image shows a lot of movement within the scene. I like the fact he studied everyday life to create this, and how he kept it close to home, it looked like it was quite fun to paint. He used just watercolour paints onto paper for this image.
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His personal website: http://robertindiana.com/work/
Some of Robert's work recently has been Exhibited within the Whitney museum of american art, and can be seen here: http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/RobertIndiana
