LOVE
Acrylic on canvas
130 x 116 cm
2015
Information
This work is based on a screenshot from the MoMA web store. In the fragment represented there is a picture of LOVE, a card designed for this museum by Robert Indiana in 1965. Under the image we can read the information of the product and its price, however, the surname of the author has been replaced by Sturtevant.
Elaine Sturtevant was an artist from the US whose practice consisted in selecting, reproducing and multiplying iconic works of his contemporaries, like: Warhol, Lichtenstein, Oldenburg, etc. Among other things, her works explored concepts such as originality, authorship and identity. Although her artistic practice has served to articulate modernism and post-modernism, its importance has not been recognised until the last years of her life. This new version of LOVE is a tribute to Sturtevant, who never appropriated this work by Indiana but could very well have done so.
Despite its mechanical and impersonal aesthetics (and what is written on the surface of the work), this is a unique brush-made painting. A process that opposes the speed, automaticity and copiousness promoted by the capitalist mode of production. Besides reflecting on the ideas mentioned above, this work raises a number of other issues inherent to pop art, such as the dissemination and consumption of images and commodities. Furthermore, LOVE makes us think about power and values (economic, cultural, etc.), as well as other concepts derived from them (cult, aura, fetish, alienation, etc.) of renewed relevance in the era of the digital revolution.
Two years after painting LOVE, a series of prints were produced with the same name. In addition to the mechanical change, there was colour modification, reduction of size, and addition of frames. However, the authors’ name and price remained unchanged. This strategy puts the focus on the technical aspects of the artworks, as well as their uniqueness and value in the times of dating apps and polyamory.