Focus on Love (Indianapolis) and explain the Historical information.
Although the word "love" contained much significance to 1960s culture, Indiana attributes his connection with the word to an earlier, more personal source. Attending Christian Science church services as a child in Indianapolis, he was impressed by a small plaque over the reader's platform bearing the inscription "God Is Love." By 1973, Indiana was no longer a practicing member of the church, but he insisted that the message of LOVE be taken as a spiritual one.The sculpture is based on the artist's original 1965 Christmas card design for MoMA, in which the majuscule letters of the word “love” are arranged in a 2×2 square, LO atop VE, and the O tilted to align with the diagonal of the square. MoMA's commission for the card came one year after Indiana had designed similar Christmas cards for close friends.After pirated versions of the design began to appear in excess during the late 1960s, Indiana attempted to copyright his work, but this was rejected on the grounds that a single word cannot be protected. Some art critics believed his switch to the large-scale, three-dimensional version of the artwork was an effort by Indiana to reclaim his design in monumental fashion. Generally, however, the innovation of the letters standing as an independent form is seen as an aesthetic progression from his earlier sculptures which utilized typography painted upon flat surfaces.
Indianapolis Indiana majuscule MoMA Christian Science