Love and Hope

A good article about renewing faith in LOVE with HOPE.

From Mental Floss...

During the 1960s, Robert Indiana was a leader in New York’s Pop art movement. But while his famous LOVE sculpture was recreated in paintings, postcards, T-shirts—and in postage stamps that earned more than $25 million for the U.S. Postal Service—the work barely made Indiana any money. Instead, it earned him a reputation as a sell-out. LOVE was full of deep personal meaning, but Indiana’s intentions were lost on both fans and critics.

As the 1970s drew to a close, Robert Indiana decided to leave both New York and LOVE behind him. He moved to Vinalhaven, a remote island off the coast of Maine, to work in isolation. For nearly three decades, he stayed there, distancing himself from the iconic image.

Then, just two years ago, Barack Obama’s campaign approached him for help, and Indiana decided to give LOVE one more chance. He used the same design to create a red, white, and blue sculpture of HOPE to benefit the campaign. Indiana called HOPE, “a brother to LOVE, or a sister, or a very close family member.” It was unveiled outside the Democratic National Convention in Denver in 2008. The image was re-created on T-shirts, pins, posters, and bumper stickers, and sales of HOPE merchandise raised more than $1 million for the campaign. More importantly, it gave Robert Indiana a renewed faith in LOVE.