Colby Art 1973

Curator: Robert Indiana's "Colby Art," created in 1973, is a striking example of his Pop Art aesthetic. The medium is acrylic paint. Editor: My first impression is that the boldness of the color palette just leaps out at you! The hard lines and simple geometric shapes… It’s visually very striking, almost aggressively so. Curator: Indeed! Indiana was deeply interested in the power of visual language in American culture. The "Colby Art" print cleverly spells out the word "ART" through the strategic placement of color and geometric forms within a circular composition. He designed this for Colby College. Editor: I wonder about Indiana’s choices with his material and its link to production—the sleekness of acrylic, compared to oils. Also the serial aspect implied, it being a print rather than one off… surely nods to mechanical reproduction processes, a common gesture in Pop Art. The crispness, even industrial feel contrasts oddly to the handcrafted feel one might get when seeing individual forms and gestures made by hand with brush or trowel. Curator: That's insightful! And Indiana’s career arc mirrors significant shifts in the art world. His exploration of consumerism and identity put him in the crosshairs of artistic debates around commodification. But for me, his enduring significance is how his work reflects the cultural and intellectual energy of a specific moment in American history, with a savvy commercial agenda behind its genesis, not at all coincidental. Editor: For me it comes down to the impact materials have on both perception and artistic labor. He elevated techniques and modes of reproduction with an interest on materials traditionally perceived to be 'less than' that is the enduring achievement. His is in bringing into question what matters when "we make", more than the messages conveyed in doing so. Curator: Food for thought about this iconic artist and his cultural resonance! Editor: Yes, its power is how it causes you to interrogate its own material making!