Sunday, August 29, 2010

Robert Indiana


For our September artist, I have chosen Robert Indiana. He was a painter, sculptor, and graphic design artist.
He was born Robert Clark in New Castle, Indiana on September 13th, 1928. He loved everyday symbols along roadside America that he saw as a child growing up in Indianapolis. Examples like “Route 66”, “EAT” at roadside diners, gas station signs, etc. inspired him in his later art work.

He created geometric art like the examples you see here. Robert Clark adopted the name of his native state and became known as Robert Indiana. His art work gave new meaning to familiar everyday words such as eat, love, and hope.

Since we study Pop art in 5th grade, he is a pop artist worth investigating. Pop art was and is an art movement that emerged in the 1950s. Pop art was and is characterized by themes and techniques drawn from popular mass culture, such as advertising, comic books, everyday objects, and popular people.