Everyone in America has probably seen that iconic image. Some may even know that the artist is Robert Indiana.
What you may not know is that Indiana has created a new image, especially for Barack Obama.
Check it out.
Yes, Indiana's newest work of art is the word HOPE done in his original LOVE style. And the best part? According to an AP article in today's Indianapolis Star,
proceeds [are] going to Democrat Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
Indiana eloquently expresses his support for Obama.
Indiana would like to see his latest work become a symbol of newfound hope for Americans, and thinks an Obama presidency could bring just that.
"There might be a chance we survive eight years of Bush, I don’t know. That’s where the hope comes in," he said in a phone interview from his home on Vinalhaven, an island off the Maine coast.
(snip)
Indiana said he has been fooling around with the word "hope" for a number of years. But it wasn’t until Obama came along — with his message of hope and his book "The Audacity of Hope" — that Indiana turned it into a work of art.
"It’s really a brother to LOVE, or a sister or a very close family member," he said.
According to Wikipedia, the 79-year old pop artist was actually born Robert Clark in New Castle, Indiana, on September 13, 1928. He became fascinated with words, letters, and colors because his dad drove a Phillips 66 gasoline truck and his mother worked in roadside restaurants where he saw neon signs and brightly lit pinball machines.
(Note the tilted letters in the Phillips 66 logo and check the LOVE image again.)
His LOVE art was first created in 1964 for a Christmas Card for the Museum of Modern Art. Later he created similar works with EAT and HUG and starred in the Andy Warhol silent short film "EAT" which featured Indiana with a cat (that's right, pootie lovers) eating a mushroom for 45 seconds.
To see the movie in slo-mo go here.
In 1973, the LOVE image was commemorated on a US postage stamp. Over 333 million stamps were sold.
Here in Indiana, Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture is on display at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
I think it's pretty cool that this 60s pop art icon is still fighting the fight for love and hope today and supporting Obama as well.
I can't afford to buy his art, but I can make a donation to Obama. And so can you.
UPDATE: In response to jennyL and betson08, the sculpture was on display at the convention and is being used by the Obama campaign:
A stainless steel sculpture of the image was unveiled this week outside the Pepsi Center at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. The campaign is selling T-shirts, pins, bumper stickers and other items adorned with HOPE.
UPDATE II: Here is an article on the creation of the HOPE sculpture that was on display in Denver.