Book of Love #2 1996

Robert Indiana made this screenprint called, Book of Love #2, and there's something so direct about it. The shapes are so clearly delineated. Indiana wasn't interested in ambiguity; he wants you to *get it*. Look at how flat the colors are, there’s this very specific blue, a super 60s pink, and a bright leafy green, all bumping up against each other. It's like he's saying, "This is LOVE, and it is bright and clear and in your face!" The tilted “O” gives it a little quirkiness, though. The hard edges make me think of advertising, but the simplicity of the word itself, LOVE, makes it feel like a protest. It's like he's grabbing a piece of pop culture and shouting about something deeper. Like Warhol, Indiana gets that art can be a commodity, but he’s using that idea to talk about feelings, not soup cans. That's pretty cool.