Robert Indiana
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Kasmin is proud to present a new exhibition of three monumental sculptures by Robert Indiana (1928-2018) exhibited on the gallery’s rooftop sculpture garden, on view from The High Line with access at 28th Street. This is the first time the three works have been shown together, and the first significant exhibition of Indiana’s sculpture since 2018’s Robert Indiana: A Sculpture Retrospective at Albright-Knox, Buffalo, NY. An additional work will accompany the rooftop exhibition in High Line Nine, Gallery 3.
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Each of the three works is an iteration of Indiana’s iconic LOVE series, articulated in three languages: English, Spanish, and Hebrew, or LOVE, AMOR, and AHAVA. The works represent three of New York’s most historic and influential dialects, celebrating immigration and lingual diversity in one of the most visited public art spaces in the city. Indiana’s archetypal stacked LOVE composition, with its bold serif lettering of VE stacked beneath the L and off-kilter O, is one of the most ubiquitous works of art of the 20th century. Belonging to a series of iconic paintings, sculptures, and prints dedicated to the theme of love that the artist commenced in the mid-1960s, the work is both accessible and complex in meaning. Layered with personal references, erotic metaphors, religious underpinnings, and socio-political commentary—particularly as a symbol of 1960s idealism—Indiana’s use of the word love goes beyond the confines of cultures and language.
AHAVA is realized in cor-ten steel, THE AMERICAN LOVE is colored blue, red, and white, and AMOR a striking red and yellow. The works all have significant provenance: an iteration of AHAVA is on permanent display at the Israel Museum in Tel Aviv, Israel, as a memorial tribute to Bishop James A. Pike; AMOR has stood in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.; and LOVE has been installed in several major cities across North America, Europe, Asia.
On view concurrently in the gallery’s High Line Nine space (507 West 27th Street) is Electric American Love, White Blue Red, 2000. The work was first conceived in 1966, crystallizing many of Indiana's recurring themes. The artist's life-long fascination with American identity and symbolism is evoked by the color format, coupled with a playful sequence of lights that recall city diner signs and blinking traffic—features of the urban landscape that Indiana drew upon throughout his career.
The publicly-sited Kasmin Sculpture Garden continues the gallery’s long-standing dedication to the medium. Since October 2018, the exhibition program has put on view monumental works by Max Ernst and Joel Shapiro.
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