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Lot Essay
‘People don’t stop to think how beautiful numbers really are’ (Robert Indiana)
Robert Indiana’s longstanding fascination with numbers comes to the fore in ONE Through ZERO (The Ten Numbers), which depicts the ten essential numerical digits in brilliant technicolour. The raw materials of language and communication propelled Indiana’s celebrated oeuvre. He was interested in numbers and letters as signifiers, revelling in the meanings and associations they conjure in the mind of the viewer. In ONE Through ZERO (The Ten Numbers), traditionally two-dimensional numbers assume mass and form, leaping out into space. Each of the work’s sculptural elements is painted in one colour on the flat planes and a second on its curving contours. The inaugural eight-foot version of this work was executed for a special commission in Indianapolis, and now resides in the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Born Robert Clark, Indiana’s adoption of the name of his native state took up a long-held artistic tradition followed by artists including Leonardo da Vinci. The choice also reflected an unabashed embrace of Americana. As a child, he had been fascinated by the Phillips 66 sign at the service station where his father worked, and later announced himself to be ‘an American painter of signs’ (R. Indiana, quoted in J. Pissarro, ‘Signs Into Art’, Robert Indiana, New York 2006, p. 59). Indiana’s stark, stylised letters and numbers are characterised by bold chromatic impact, glossy patinas and clean lines. His sculpted works have become emblems of American Pop, commensurate with Andy Warhol’s soup cans and Roy Lichtenstein’s comic-book blondes. Indiana began to incorporate numbers into his sculptural assemblages and paintings in the early 1960s, and by the middle of the decade numbers had become a central motif. As with many of his most iconic works, such as LOVE, the development of two-dimensional painting into three-dimensional sculpture is another hallmark of Indiana’s practice.
ONE Through ZERO (The Ten Numbers) evidences Indiana’s interest in the formal aspect of sign systems. The work’s numerical elements are approximately half as wide as they are tall, foregrounding each as something solid and autonomous. Indiana’s chosen colour palette is also loaded with symbolism. As explained by the artist: ‘red and blue are associated with birth in ONE; green and blue signify infancy in TWO; orange and blue represent youth in THREE; yellow and red are connected with adolescence in FOUR; white and blue signify the pre-prime of life in FIVE; green and red signify the prime of life in SIX; blue and orange suggest early autumn of life in SEVEN; purple and red signal autumn in EIGHT; black and yellow convey a sense of warning in NINE; and shades of grey signal the end of the life cycle in ZERO’ (R. Indiana, quoted at artist’s website).
Indiana’s enduring interest in numbers can be traced back to formative childhood experiences. He saw vast networks of significance and meaning embedded in their regular, recognisable forms. He attached them to particular life events and experiences, in the form of ages marked by birthdays, highway routes, or the number of buildings in which he lived: he moved home multiple times as a child, living in twenty-one different homes by the age of seventeen. ‘It is precisely in this seeming directness, this candour, that his work is at its slyest and slipperiest,’ writes Adrian Dannatt, ‘the flat dazzle concealing a deep, arcane network of winks, allusions and deadpan wit’ (A. Dannatt, ‘The Indiana Code’ in Robert Indiana: Paintings and Sculpture 1961 to 2003, exh. cat. Waddington Galleries, London 2004, p. 9).
Robert Indiana’s longstanding fascination with numbers comes to the fore in ONE Through ZERO (The Ten Numbers), which depicts the ten essential numerical digits in brilliant technicolour. The raw materials of language and communication propelled Indiana’s celebrated oeuvre. He was interested in numbers and letters as signifiers, revelling in the meanings and associations they conjure in the mind of the viewer. In ONE Through ZERO (The Ten Numbers), traditionally two-dimensional numbers assume mass and form, leaping out into space. Each of the work’s sculptural elements is painted in one colour on the flat planes and a second on its curving contours. The inaugural eight-foot version of this work was executed for a special commission in Indianapolis, and now resides in the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Born Robert Clark, Indiana’s adoption of the name of his native state took up a long-held artistic tradition followed by artists including Leonardo da Vinci. The choice also reflected an unabashed embrace of Americana. As a child, he had been fascinated by the Phillips 66 sign at the service station where his father worked, and later announced himself to be ‘an American painter of signs’ (R. Indiana, quoted in J. Pissarro, ‘Signs Into Art’, Robert Indiana, New York 2006, p. 59). Indiana’s stark, stylised letters and numbers are characterised by bold chromatic impact, glossy patinas and clean lines. His sculpted works have become emblems of American Pop, commensurate with Andy Warhol’s soup cans and Roy Lichtenstein’s comic-book blondes. Indiana began to incorporate numbers into his sculptural assemblages and paintings in the early 1960s, and by the middle of the decade numbers had become a central motif. As with many of his most iconic works, such as LOVE, the development of two-dimensional painting into three-dimensional sculpture is another hallmark of Indiana’s practice.
ONE Through ZERO (The Ten Numbers) evidences Indiana’s interest in the formal aspect of sign systems. The work’s numerical elements are approximately half as wide as they are tall, foregrounding each as something solid and autonomous. Indiana’s chosen colour palette is also loaded with symbolism. As explained by the artist: ‘red and blue are associated with birth in ONE; green and blue signify infancy in TWO; orange and blue represent youth in THREE; yellow and red are connected with adolescence in FOUR; white and blue signify the pre-prime of life in FIVE; green and red signify the prime of life in SIX; blue and orange suggest early autumn of life in SEVEN; purple and red signal autumn in EIGHT; black and yellow convey a sense of warning in NINE; and shades of grey signal the end of the life cycle in ZERO’ (R. Indiana, quoted at artist’s website).
Indiana’s enduring interest in numbers can be traced back to formative childhood experiences. He saw vast networks of significance and meaning embedded in their regular, recognisable forms. He attached them to particular life events and experiences, in the form of ages marked by birthdays, highway routes, or the number of buildings in which he lived: he moved home multiple times as a child, living in twenty-one different homes by the age of seventeen. ‘It is precisely in this seeming directness, this candour, that his work is at its slyest and slipperiest,’ writes Adrian Dannatt, ‘the flat dazzle concealing a deep, arcane network of winks, allusions and deadpan wit’ (A. Dannatt, ‘The Indiana Code’ in Robert Indiana: Paintings and Sculpture 1961 to 2003, exh. cat. Waddington Galleries, London 2004, p. 9).