Acrylic Fridge Magnet: United States. Indiana. Weathered Backwards Love

The author of the photo: Alan Levine. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0).

Weathered Backwards Love at IMA

Weathered Backwards Love is a work of art at the Indianapolis Museum of Arts, in the states of Indiana, United States. This Weathered Backwards Love was created by an American artist, Robert Indiana (also known as Robert Clark) in 1970. Robert worked on many short words like EAT, HUG but the most popular is the LOVE. The LOVE sculpture consists of three separate elements fabricated from 3/8 inch thick sheets of Cor-ten steel, an alloy of iron. They are fitted together to show the two dimensional text design in the three dimensional form. This Backwards Love is written with hollow but enclosed block letters of 72 inches deep. The letter "L" is placed on top of "V" to make it a single unit without a seam between the two letters. "O" and "E" are attached to "LV". The surface of LOVE has an even layer of iron (III) oxide which provides a distinctive coloration. It also protects the metal underneath from further rust and corrosion. This acrylic fridge magnet souvenir with its depiction of Weathered Backwards Love is an excellent memento for tourists, as a token of love and art, to take home.

Shifting of LOVE

The Weathered Backwards Love was first executed in North Haven in 1970. It was then moved to Indianapolis and installed on the main plaza at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. In 1971 the sculpture was transferred to Central Park at New York City. This Weathered Backwards Love returned to Indianapolis again in 1972, and was showcased in front of Indiana National Bank. This architecture was finally accessed by the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1975.