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Art Talk: What Does "LOVE" Have To Do With It?

Robert Indiana LOVE, 1966

There is no lack of paintings that show mountains or human figures. What's in this week? Paintings with words.

Two new major exhibitions in New York are examples of what became known as the text-and-image school of art. American artist Robert Indiana's show at the Whitney Museum consists mostly of pop-art paintings from the 1960s inscribed with words like "love," "eat," "die" and "hug." And Belgian artist Rene Magritte's show at the Museum of Modern Art includes his best-known painting: the one of a pipe floating above the sentence "This is not a pipe."

WNYC's art critic Deborah Solomon said both Indiana and Magritte were infatuated with words, and used them very differently. "You can say Indiana used words to express meaning, whereas Magritte, the surrealist, used words in his art to impede meaning," she said.

Solomon said if she were to use words in a painting, she would choose,  "Be nice," which is her motto as a person and as a critic. Which word/words would you pick? Leave your comment below.

To listen to the whole interview with Solomon, and hear which words Soterios Johnson would pick, click on the audio link above.

 

Robert Indiana, The Demuth American Dream #5, 1963
Robert Indiana, The Demuth American Dream #5, 1963 (Courtesy of the Whitney Museum)
Robert Indiana, The Triumph of Tira, 1960-61
Robert Indiana, The Triumph of Tira, 1960-61 (Courtesy of the Whitney Museum)
Robert Indiana, The Black Diamond American Dream #2, 1962
Robert Indiana, The Black Diamond American Dream #2, 1962 (Courtesy of the Whitney Museum)
Robert Indiana, Mother and Father, 1963-66
Robert Indiana, Mother and Father, 1963-66 (Courtesy of the Whitney Museum)
René Magritte (Belgium, 1898-1967). La trahison des images (Ceci n’est pas une pipe) (The Treachery of Images [This is Not a Pipe]). 1929.
René Magritte (Belgium, 1898-1967). La trahison des images (Ceci n’est pas une pipe) (The Treachery of Images [This is Not a Pipe]). 1929. (Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art)
René Magritte (Belgian, 1898–1967). La clef des songes (The Interpretation of Dreams). 1935.
René Magritte (Belgian, 1898–1967). La clef des songes (The Interpretation of Dreams). 1935. (Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art)
René Magritte (Belgium, 1898-1967). Le Palais de rideaux, III (The Palace of Curtains, III). 1928-29.
René Magritte (Belgium, 1898-1967). Le Palais de rideaux, III (The Palace of Curtains, III). 1928-29. (Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art)
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