The Brooklyn Bridge 1971

Here's a story about Robert Indiana's 'The Brooklyn Bridge.' Imagine Indiana carefully silkscreening this print, the squeegee gliding, depositing layers of cool grays and blues onto the paper. It feels calm, but there is an energy in the repetition of forms. Four medallions showing the bridge piers are arranged within a diamond, each a variation on a theme. I'm thinking, what was Indiana trying to capture? Maybe the iconic architecture, but also the monumentality of the bridge, its presence in the city and the collective imagination. The bridge spans across the water, linking not only Brooklyn and Manhattan, but the past and the future. The hard-edged geometry and the stenciled text around the circles, they evoke a sense of order and precision. Yet the bridge’s elegant, soaring arches and the carefully chosen words, introduce a lyrical quality. It's almost like he’s in conversation with Joseph Stella, who painted the bridge with such dreamy, futurist awe. Artists, they’re always riffing off each other, interpreting the world in their own way.