Robert Indiana, né Robert Clark (1928-2018)« Je suis un peintre américain de signes. » Cette proclamation de Robert Indiana est tout un programme. Après des études d’art, il décide que sa mission sera d’exprimer le vécu américain et prend d’ailleurs comme pseudonyme le nom de son État natal : Indiana. Il s’installe à New York en 1956 dans un atelier qui domine l’East River et se lie à des artistes abstraits, notamment à Agnes Martin et Ellsworth Kelly, ses voisins sur Coenties Slip, une rue à la pointe sud de Manhattan. Sa production est marquée par une austérité formelle qui s’exprime à travers des nombres et des mots quasi abstraits, mais à la forte qualité expressive. Si au début il se qualifiait de simple peintre d’enseigne, il devient vite un représentant éminent du mouvement Hard-Edge, le Pop Art géométrique. Comme ses collègues du Pop Art, Indiana se démarque de l’improvisation de l’Expressionisme abstrait et décide à l’avance de ce qu’il va peindre afin de pouvoir se contenter d’enregistrer les faits. Il rejette l’imprévu, l’inattendu et jusqu’aux traces non préméditées des coups de pinceau, et déclare : « La touche, témoin de la personnalité, et le dripping encore plus égotiste… Le travail dans la pâte ? Une indigestion visuelle ! » Il fera l’éloge du caractère « dépersonnalisé, anonyme et objectif » du Pop Art. À ses débuts, il utilise des matériaux qui proviennent de la destruction des buildings de son quartier pour réaliser des assemblages. C’est ainsi qu’il fabrique de nouveaux emblèmes totémiques avec des résidus de poutres, de pièces récupérées, des roues en métal rouillé, de la ferraille qui porte la marque des entreprises du quartier. Ces vestiges d’un coin typique de l’Amérique célèbrent l’histoire locale et illustrent le rêve américain en élevant au rang d’œuvres d’art les symboles du capitalisme naissant. Cette série s’appelle Herms en hommage à Hermès, le dieu des voyageurs dont les anciens Grecs utilisaient la sculpture pour signaler les carrefours. Formellement, la vision de ces grandes balises peut évoquer aussi le fameux Chariot d’Alberto Giacometti. En utilisant parfois des extraits emblématiques de textes poétiques ou publicitaires, il se pose aussi en héritier symbolique d’auteurs cultes des États-Unis comme Herman Melville ou Walt Whitman. Il utilise souvent le chiffre 5 pour rendre hommage à un des pionniers de la peinture américaine, Charles Demuth et son célèbre tableau de 1928 I Saw the Figure Five in Gold. Sous l’influence de son ami Kelly, Indiana épure son style pour se concentrer sur des contours durs et de puissants contrastes colorés qui paraphrasent l’esthétique des panneaux routiers et démontrent son intérêt pour l’environnement urbain. Les inscriptions au pochoir sont éloquentes pour rendre compte de tous les aspects de son approche de son beau pays. Il traduit ses préoccupations sociales et ses critiques politiques comme dans son chef-d’œuvre The Calumet de 1961, où il célèbre les liens pacifiques entre les tribus indiennes avant l’arrivée des colonisateurs. Il explique : « J’ai décidé de devenir un peintre héroïque, et The Calumet est une peinture héroïque. Elle parle de Longfellow et de Hiawatha et des premiers colonisateurs du continent et surtout d’une grande tragédie. » L’œuvre s’inspire de la poésie de Henry Longfellow, et de la situation difficile des Amérindiens dans un monde naturel en train de disparaître. Les premières lignes du poème The Song of Hiawatha (1855) encerclent sa composition, où l’on peut lire ces fameux vers de conciliation : « On the mountains of the prairie Gitche Manito the Mighty called the tribes of men together. » En son centre, des étoiles rouges encerclées de jaune font lire le nom de toutes les tribus amérindiennes. Cette même démarche critique se fait jour dans des tableaux de flippers. À côté de symboles des USA, emblèmes héraldiques, étoiles à cinq branches, cercles concentriques… les inscriptions « Take All » et « TILT » sont là de façon ironique pour souligner les inégalités sociales qui existent au pays de l’Oncle Sam. Indiana s’en prend aussi aux comportements racistes qui ont marqué la lutte des droits civiques des Noirs américains au milieu des années 1960 en rappelant les événements sanglants de Selma en Alabama et de Bogalusa en Louisiane. Dès 1962 déjà, Indiana voulait émettre des messages pour créer une complicité avec le spectateur. Dans des compositions présentées comme de véritables blasons héraldiques, il inscrit les mots « Hug » (étreindre), « Love » (aimer)… ou encore dans le grand tableau en deux panneaux de 1962 dans un cercle blanc sur fond de couleur "Eat-Die" (manger-mourir). Si pour l’artiste cette œuvre renvoie à un souvenir très précis, car le dernier mot de sa mère avant de mourir fut « eat », il propose sous forme lapidaire un message universel. Par ses monosyllabes, souvent chargés d’une grande valeur affective, il associe de façon novatrice langages verbal et visuel. C’est le choix du mot anglais Love, symbole d’amour emblématique dans de nombreuses cultures populaires, qui va le faire connaître mondialement. Cette œuvre va prendre la même dimension symbolique que la colombe de la paix de Picasso ! Vers le milieu des années 1960, en relation étroite avec l’idéalisme ambiant, le concept original « Love » a vu le jour avec comme couleurs le rouge, le vert et le bleu, et surtout le « O » rouge légèrement incliné. Il sera suivi de séries de peintures, de sculptures et d’estampes qui immuablement épellent ces quatre lettres. Des répliques suivront en d’autres matériaux, à des échelles différentes, de sorte qu’il reste l’emblème mondial de Robert Indiana. Plus tard, cette fois-ci pour des raisons politiques afin de montrer son adhésion au président Barack Obama, l’artiste l’accompagnera du terme « Hope ».
Robert Indiana, born Robert Clark (1928-2018)"I am an American sign painter." This proclamation by Robert Indiana is quite a program. After studying art, he decided that his mission would be to express the American experience and took the name of his home state as his pseudonym: Indiana. He moved to New York in 1956 to a studio overlooking the East River and became involved with abstract artists, including Agnes Martin and Ellsworth Kelly, his neighbors on Coenties Slip, a street on the southern tip of Manhattan. His work is marked by a formal austerity expressed through numbers and words that are almost abstract but have a strong expressive quality. If at first he called himself a simple sign painter, he soon became a prominent representative of the Hard-Edge movement, geometric Pop Art. Like his Pop Art colleagues, Indiana distances himself from the improvisation of Abstract Expressionism and decides in advance what he is going to paint so that he can simply record the facts. He rejects the unforeseen, the unexpected and even the unpremeditated traces of the brushstrokes, and declares: "The touch, witness of the personality, and the dripping even more egotistical... The work in the paste? A visual indigestion!" He will praise the "depersonalized, anonymous and objective" character of Pop Art. At the beginning, he uses materials which come from the destruction of the buildings of his district to carry out assemblies. Thus, he made new totemic emblems with residual beams, salvaged parts, rusty metal wheels, and scrap metal bearing the marks of the neighborhood's businesses. These remnants of a typical American corner celebrate local history and illustrate the American dream by elevating the symbols of nascent capitalism into works of art. This series is called Herms in homage to Hermes, the god of travelers whose sculpture the ancient Greeks used to mark crossroads. Formally, the vision of these large beacons can also evoke the famous famous Chariot of Alberto Giacometti. By using sometimes extracts of poetic or advertising texts, he also poses as a symbolic heir to cult authors from the United States such as Herman Melville or Walt Whitman. He often uses the number 5 to pay tribute to one of the pioneers of American painting, Charles Demuth and his famous 1928 painting I Saw the Figure Five in Gold. Under the influence of his friend Kelly, Indiana purified his style to focus on Under the influence of his friend Kelly, Indiana pared down his style to focus on stark outlines and powerful color contrasts that paraphrased the aesthetics of road signs and demonstrated his interest in the urban environment. The stencil inscriptions are eloquent in capturing all aspects of his approach to his beautiful country. He reflects his social concerns and political criticisms as in his 1961 masterpiece The Calumet, where he celebrates the peaceful ties between Indian tribes before the arrival of colonizers. He explains, "I decided to become a heroic painter, and The Calumet is a heroic painting. It is about Longfellow and Hiawatha and the early colonizers of the continent and especially about a great tragedy." The work is inspired by the poetry of Henry Longfellow, and the plight of The work is inspired by the poetry of Henry Longfellow, and the plight of Native Americans in a disappearing natural world. The opening lines of the poem The Song of Hiawatha (1855) encircle his composition, which features these famous conciliatory lines, "On the mountains of the prairie Gitche Manito the Mighty called the tribes of men together." In its center, red stars circled in yellow read the names of all the Native American tribes. This same critical approach is apparent in the pinball machine paintings. Next to symbols of the USA, heraldic emblems, five-pointed stars, concentric circles... the inscriptions "Take All" and "TILT" are there in an ironic way to underline to underline the social inequalities which exist in the country of Uncle Sam. Indiana also attacks the racist behavior that marked the civil rights struggle of black Americans in the mid-1960s, recalling the bloody events of Selma, Alabama and Bogalusa, Louisiana. Already in 1962, Indiana wanted to send out messages to create a complicity with the complicity with the viewer. In compositions presented as heraldic coats of arms, he inscribed the words "Hug", "Love"... or in the large two-panel painting of 1962 in a white circle on a colored background Eat-Die. If for the artist this work refers to a very precise memory, because the last word of his mother before dying was "eat", he proposes in lapidary form a universal message. By its monosyllables, often charged with a great emotional value, it associates in an innovative way verbal and visual languages. It is the choice of the English word Love, an emblematic symbol of love in many popular cultures, that will make him known worldwide. This work will take on the same symbolic dimension as Picasso's Dove of Peace! In the mid-1960s, in close relation to the ambient idealism, the original concept "Love" was born with red, green and blue as colors, and especially the red "O" slightly inclined. It will be followed by a series of paintings, sculptures and prints that immutably spell out these four letters. Replicas would follow in other materials, at different scales, so that it remains Robert Indiana's world emblem. Later, this time for political reasons to show his support for President Barack Obama, the artist will accompany it with the term "Hope".
Robert Indiana, born Robert Clark (1928-2018)"I am an American sign painter." This proclamation by Robert Indiana is quite a program. After studying art, he decided that his mission would be to express the American experience and took the name of his home state as his pseudonym: Indiana. He moved to New York in 1956 to a studio overlooking the East River and became involved with abstract artists, including Agnes Martin and Ellsworth Kelly, his neighbors on Coenties Slip, a street on the southern tip of Manhattan. His work is marked by a formal austerity expressed through numbers and words that are almost abstract but have a strong expressive quality. If at first he called himself a simple sign painter, he soon became a prominent representative of the Hard-Edge movement, geometric Pop Art. Like his Pop Art colleagues, Indiana distances himself from the improvisation of Abstract Expressionism and decides in advance what he is going to paint so that he can simply record the facts. He rejects the unforeseen, the unexpected and even the unpremeditated traces of the brushstrokes, and declares: "The touch, witness of the personality, and the dripping even more egotistical... The work in the paste? A visual indigestion!" He will praise the "depersonalized, anonymous and objective" character of Pop Art. At the beginning, he uses materials which come from the destruction of the buildings of his district to carry out assemblies. Thus, he made new totemic emblems with residual beams, salvaged parts, rusty metal wheels, and scrap metal bearing the marks of the neighborhood's businesses. These remnants of a typical American corner celebrate local history and illustrate the American dream by elevating the symbols of nascent capitalism into works of art. This series is called Herms in homage to Hermes, the god of travelers whose sculpture the ancient Greeks used to mark crossroads. Formally, the vision of these large beacons can also evoke the famous famous Chariot of Alberto Giacometti. By using sometimes extracts of poetic or advertising texts, he also poses as a symbolic heir to cult authors from the United States such as Herman Melville or Walt Whitman. He often uses the number 5 to pay tribute to one of the pioneers of American painting, Charles Demuth and his famous 1928 painting I Saw the Figure Five in Gold. Under the influence of his friend Kelly, Indiana purified his style to focus on Under the influence of his friend Kelly, Indiana pared down his style to focus on stark outlines and powerful color contrasts that paraphrased the aesthetics of road signs and demonstrated his interest in the urban environment. The stencil inscriptions are eloquent in capturing all aspects of his approach to his beautiful country. He reflects his social concerns and political criticisms as in his 1961 masterpiece The Calumet, where he celebrates the peaceful ties between Indian tribes before the arrival of colonizers. He explains, "I decided to become a heroic painter, and The Calumet is a heroic painting. It is about Longfellow and Hiawatha and the early colonizers of the continent and especially about a great tragedy." The work is inspired by the poetry of Henry Longfellow, and the plight of The work is inspired by the poetry of Henry Longfellow, and the plight of Native Americans in a disappearing natural world. The opening lines of the poem The Song of Hiawatha (1855) encircle his composition, which features these famous conciliatory lines, "On the mountains of the prairie Gitche Manito the Mighty called the tribes of men together." In its center, red stars circled in yellow read the names of all the Native American tribes. This same critical approach is apparent in the pinball machine paintings. Next to symbols of the USA, heraldic emblems, five-pointed stars, concentric circles... the inscriptions "Take All" and "TILT" are there in an ironic way to underline to underline the social inequalities which exist in the country of Uncle Sam. Indiana also attacks the racist behavior that marked the civil rights struggle of black Americans in the mid-1960s, recalling the bloody events of Selma, Alabama and Bogalusa, Louisiana. Already in 1962, Indiana wanted to send out messages to create a complicity with the complicity with the viewer. In compositions presented as heraldic coats of arms, he inscribed the words "Hug", "Love"... or in the large two-panel painting of 1962 in a white circle on a colored background Eat-Die. If for the artist this work refers to a very precise memory, because the last word of his mother before dying was "eat", he proposes in lapidary form a universal message. By its monosyllables, often charged with a great emotional value, it associates in an innovative way verbal and visual languages. It is the choice of the English word Love, an emblematic symbol of love in many popular cultures, that will make him known worldwide. This work will take on the same symbolic dimension as Picasso's Dove of Peace! In the mid-1960s, in close relation to the ambient idealism, the original concept "Love" was born with red, green and blue as colors, and especially the red "O" slightly inclined. It will be followed by a series of paintings, sculptures and prints that immutably spell out these four letters. Replicas would follow in other materials, at different scales, so that it remains Robert Indiana's world emblem. Later, this time for political reasons to show his support for President Barack Obama, the artist will accompany it with the term "Hope".