Installation view of Indiana’s 12 foot LOVE (Red Outside Blue Inside) (1966-1999) at Rockefeller Center, New York, 2023. Photo: Diane Bondareff. Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Rockefeller Center, in partnership with The Robert Indiana Legacy Initiative, presented an installation of works by Robert Indiana, on view throughout the landmark Rockefeller Center campus from September 13 through October 23, 2023. Featuring monumental sculptures and a series of flags surrounding The Rink at Rockefeller Center, the exhibition highlighted works created by Indiana throughout his distinguished career, including the long-awaited return of his iconic LOVE sculpture to New York City.
“It is an honor to partner with the team at Rockefeller Center to bring the works of Robert Indiana to the people of New York, where we know Bob always wanted his art to be integrated into the vibrant streetscapes and made accessible to the public. Bob’s legacy is woven into the history of this great city, and we are particularly proud to have LOVE return to the place that so energized him as a young artist. I hope these works will inspire and move New Yorkers and visitors to Rockefeller Center anew,” said Simon Salama-Caro, founder of The Robert Indiana Legacy Initiative.
Installation of Indiana’s 12 foot LOVE (Cor-Ten steel) (1966-1970) at Fifth Avenue and 60th Street, New York, November 1971. Photo: Eliot Elisofon. Eliot Elisofon Papers and Photography Collection, 1930-1988, undated [bulk 1942-1973]. The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Center. Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
LOVE (1966–1999), a 12-foot-high red and blue polychrome aluminum artwork, was installed on Center Plaza. For decades, this version of the beloved sculpture stood at the corner of Sixth Avenue and 55th Street, until it was removed for conservation in 2019. The LOVE sculpture’s illustrious history as a New York landmark began in 1971 when a Cor-Ten steel version of the work was first displayed at the Fifth Avenue and 60th Street entrance to Central Park.
LOVE, with its unmistakable slanted "O" within a square format, first appeared in 1964 as a series of frottage drawings in graphite and colored pencil, which Indiana sent to art world friends. Indiana's first LOVE sculpture, a twelve-inch-high work which the artist described as "probably the most beautiful thing that I have caused to bring about," was executed in 1966 in hand-cut and mirror-finished aluminum.
Installation view of ONE Through ZERO (The Ten Numbers) (1980–2003), Cor-Ten steel, and flags featuring images from the Peace Paintings series (2003) at Rockefeller Center, New York, 2003. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging; Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
A second major feature of the Rockefeller Center installation was Indiana’s monumental sculpture ONE Through ZERO (The Ten Numbers) (1980–2001), which consists of ten 8-foot-tall Cor-Ten steel number sculptures. Numbers are one of the most important iconographic themes in Indiana's work, and the artist emphasized the variety of meanings and associations that numbers can generate. Every number had specific personal resonance for him, related either to events in his own life (such as highway routes and buildings where he lived), or to the cycle of life itself, with the number one representing birth, and the number zero standing for death.
Also on display were 193 flags surrounding The Rink at Rockefeller Center. The flags feature images from Indiana’s Peace Paintings series (2003) (see below), created as a response to the 9/11 attacks, which the artist witnessed while in New York City. Incorporating the peace sign and short phrases about the loss of peace, these paintings reflect poignant themes of unity, acceptance and love that are present throughout Indiana’s work, as well as his continual engagement with the culture and politics of his time.
I think of my peace paintings as one long poem, with each painting being a single stanza — Robert Indiana
Peace: A Broken Dream, 2003. Photo: Dennis and Diana Griggs. Artwork: © The Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine
Peace Escapes Once More, 2003. Photo: Dennis and Diana Griggs. Artwork: © The Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine
Peace Plunges in Despair, 2003. Photo: Dennis and Diana Griggs. Artwork: © The Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine
Peace Eludes the World, 2003. Photo: Dennis and Diana Griggs. Artwork: © The Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine
Whither Has Peace Gone, 2003. Photo: Dennis and Diana Griggs. Artwork: © The Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine
Peace: The Missing Gem, 2003. Photo: Dennis and Diana Griggs. Artwork: © The Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine
Peace: A Pearl in Peril, 2003. Photo: Dennis and Diana Griggs. Artwork: © The Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine
Peace Sinks in Confusion, 2003. Photo: Dennis and Diana Griggs. Artwork: © The Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine
Peace Falls in Terror, 2003. Photo: Dennis and Diana Griggs. Artwork: © The Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine
Peace Dives in Oblivion, 2003. Photo: Dennis and Diana Griggs. Artwork: © The Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine
Peace Dethroned Again, 2003. Photo: Dennis and Diana Griggs. Artwork: © The Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine
Peace Dethroned Yet Again, 2003. Photo: Dennis and Diana Griggs. Artwork: © The Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine
Installation view of LOVE (Red Outside Blue Inside) (1966-1999), Rockefeller Center, New York, 2023. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging; Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Installation view of FIVE and ZERO, from ONE Through ZERO (The Ten Numbers) (1980–2003), Cor-Ten steel, Rockefeller Center, New York, 2023. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging; Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Installation view of SEVEN, EIGHT, and THREE, from ONE Through ZERO (The Ten Numbers) (1980–2003), Cor-Ten steel, Rockefeller Center, New York, 2023. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging; Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Installation view of ONE and FOUR, from ONE Through ZERO (The Ten Numbers) (1980–2003), Cor-Ten steel, Rockefeller Center, New York, 2023. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging; Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Installation view of ZERO, from ONE Through ZERO (The Ten Numbers) (1980–2003), Cor-Ten steel, Rockefeller Center, New York, 2023. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging; Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Installation view of ONE Through ZERO (The Ten Numbers) (1980–2003), Cor-Ten steel, and flags featuring images from the Peace Paintings series (2003), Rockefeller Center, New York, 2023. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging; Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Installation view of flags featuring images from the Peace Paintings series (2003), Rockefeller Center, New York, 2023. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging; Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
