It may be challenging to identify a relation between art and advertising since these two disciplines seem entirely different with nothing in common. However, each piece of art can contain a marketing message, though it can sometimes be hidden from people’s eyes. An American artist representing the pop-art movement, Robert Indiana, put advertising messages into some of his works even if he did not understand that himself.
The artistic history of Indiana is unique as some of his works evolved through the years. He created his most iconic masterpiece, the Love image, in the form of a simple card, in 1964, and 6 years later, in 1970, Indiana completed the sculpture of that image (Indiana, 1970). The sculpture is almost wholly performed in the red color, except for the letters’ inner sides, which are blue and green. This piece of art has a high significance for the artist’s life and career, being his most iconic work. According to Shaw (2022), Indiana once said that love “cinched my whole career, it put me on the map, but it also caused me grief and unhappiness, rip-offs and endless unpleasantness” (para. 2). The importance of this masterpiece is also explained by its similarity to the famous slogan “make love, not war.” Although many people did not identify social engagement in Indiana’s works, Love was a political work, just like his direct protests (Shaw, 2022). Overall, in the case of Love, the artist made the masterpiece, and the masterpiece made the artist.
Messaging in Indiana’s works may be hidden or unseen, but it is usually direct and goes through people’s minds straight to their hearts. The Love sculpture described earlier can be a perfect exemplifying case. It is primarily red on the outside, and it is well-known that the red color possesses the ability to invoke the most powerful emotions in people, such as anger or eagerness to act. Moreover, the construction of the work itself seems simple since it is just a word of four letters, but there is much more to it. Indiana believed that his role as an artist was to make words memorable, and he succeeded (Salvado, 2018). Seeing such a short word created with grace and elegance always makes people contemplate what they observe. Furthermore, the Love sculpture is performed using light-reflective panels, which means people can even see their own reflection in the letters if they come close enough as if love itself reflected men and women. Thus, Love contains an advertising message: it makes people go to a store to buy a bouquet of flowers for their loved ones.
Personally, I think that Robert Indiana was an insightful and talented artist who understood how to express a complicated idea in a simple way. He knew how to use light and color to get through people’s physical shells and reach their hearts. Moreover, I see love as the most powerful phenomenon in the world that is practically capable of performing any imaginable and unimaginable miracles. Most artists see the world differently, which sometimes gives them exceptional abilities they can use to show their worldview’s image to other people. As an artist, Indiana understood the power of love and had a unique ability to invoke this feeling in other people’s hearts and not just in his own. I believe that many people who have ever observed Indiana’s works have changed deep inside.
References
Indiana, R. (1970). Love [Sculpture]. Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, United States.
Salvado, A. (2018). Robert Indiana: Spreading love for numbers. Metal Magazine. Web.
Shaw, A. (2022). Love in the time of war: Robert Indiana’s first major UK exhibition opens with a pacifist message more timely than ever. The Art Newspaper. Web.