Jesus Saves 1969

Robert Indiana, in his painting ‘Jesus Saves’, invites us into a world where hard edges meet spiritual proclamations. Imagine Indiana carefully layering the paint, building up those blocks of yellow, orange, and blue, set against a minty ground. The words, solid and declarative, burst forth, casting shadows that give them weight, presence. You can see how the surface is built with layers of paint, where precision meets the happy accident. You wonder what it was like for him to create the image? Was he thinking about road signs? Commercial art? The history of religious iconography? I bet he was thinking how to make something new and how to bring it into the world. In the end, artists like Indiana teach us that painting is about so much more than just what's on the canvas, it is an open-ended conversation. It’s about making something new out of something old, and continuing to expand our understanding of what painting can be.