Exhibition spans six decades of Robert Indiana's work

On March 12, Robert Indiana: Sculpture 1958-2018, an exhibition spanning the artist's 60-year career, opens at the UK's Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield. As the first large-scale British show of his work, it features Robert Indiana's (1928-2018) sculptures, paintings, and prints. It traces his evolution of sculpture over six decades. It explores the complex nature of Indiana's artistic practice and considers his view of the darker side of the so-called »american dream.« Unity, acceptance, and love are themes that run through his work. They remain relevant today to movements against racism and discrimination against LGBTQIA+ communities.

The exhibition begins with Indiana's early reliefs and collages. They include found objects and industrial remnants from abandoned warehouses. Also on display are some of his iconic LOVE sculptures, including LOVE (Red Blue Green) (1966-98). As a human rights advocate, his significant works on social justice will also take center stage. Works on display include Mississippi (1965, from the Confederacy series) and Ash (1985, from the Vinalhaven Construction series). While the former was his controversial response to the racist atrocities within the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s, the latter refers to the homosexual community's reactions to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.

Three gallery rooms will also display groups of columns and herms, including early wooden constructions and later bronze casts. The sculptures vary in size from just over one meter to three and a half meters. Like Indiana's reliefs and collages, they were created using materials from abandoned and, in some cases, demolished industrial buildings. The exhibition Robert Indiana: Sculpture 1958-2018 runs through January 8, 2023.