Photo: Paul Marotta/Getty
Robert Indiana, the artist behindthe famousLOVEseriesthat has graced postage stamps, the plazas of famous cities and more, has died,according to multiple outlets. He was 89.
Indiana’s attorney, James W. Brannan,told theNew York Timesthat he died of respiratory failureat his home in Vinalhaven, Maine, on Saturday.
Born Robert Clark in 1928, the artist’s career kicked off after he graduated from theSchool of the Art Institute of Chicagoand moved to New York City in 1954, theTimesreported.
Clark’s iconicLOVEimage — the letters L and O, slightly slanted, stacked on top of V and E — first gained public recognition afterit appeared on New York City’s the Museum of Modern Art’s 1965 Christmas card.
Later, the artwork was turned into a 12-foot-tall steel sculpture for the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1970, theTimessaid. More sculptures followed, including one on Philadelphia’s JFK Plaza, which was installed in 1976 for the Pennsylvania city’s bicentennial,according to thePhiladelphia Inquirer.
Now, versions of the sculpture — including those in other languages —can be found around the world, NPR reported.
Lauren Casselberry/AP/REX/Shutterstock
He told NPR in 2014 of his regrets over the series’ prominence, saying, “LOVEbit me. It was a marvelous idea, but it was also a terrible mistake. It became too popular; it became too popular. And there are people who don’t like popularity. It’s much better to be exclusive and remote. That’s why I’m on an island off the coast of Maine, you see.”
According to the Associated Press, in the weeks leading up to Indiana’s death,friends expressed concern over his well-beingafter not hearing from him for some time,even leading to a lawsuit filed last Friday in Manhattan.
Despite the controversy, Indiana’s friend and former publicist Kathleen Rogers told the Associated Press, “He was a better guy than he’s been portrayed as being. He was reclusive, cantankerous and sometimes difficult. But he was a very loyal, loving man. He was the architect of love.”
source: people.com
