LOVELY

Since the beginning of time, the human race has struggled to define love and give it a tangible meaning. People have tried to measure love, describe love, and even bottle love. Countless artists have attempted to capture love's elusive essence and put it into expressions that people's minds can comprehend. "The Kiss" by Auguste Rodin and "Love" by Robert Indiana are prime examples of works that embody and expand a collective concept that is strict in its consideration, yet open to interpretation. Both works have many insights that individuals can identify with to contemplate their own search for the meaning of love. The mystery surrounding love helps artists to create a form that appeals to all audiences by prompting each viewer to define love in their own terms.

Rodin's "The Kiss" is one of the most intimate conceptions of love and depicts two lovers embracing and on the verge of a kiss. The controversial and erotic nature of the statue is evident in the two lovers' naked poses while reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere. The book in this sculpture adds to the feeling that the two are forbidden lovers, like the two characters in the story they are reading. "The Kiss" portrays two individuals pulling each other closer in a natural, dramatic movement of desire. The physical intimacy of "The Kiss" produces a romantic aura that stays true to classic shape and style while providing an emotionally charged visual presence. Originally made of white marble, the near life-size statue suggests an unadulterated, pure, longing to love and be loved.

Much of the same feelings can be drawn from Robert Indiana's "LOVE" sculpture. This 144" high, 144'' wide, and 72'' deep sculpture spells out "LOVE" with a tilted "O". The letters "LO" are placed on top of "VE" and create a symmetrical square-shaped structure. The eye-catching primary colors used to paint the aluminum demand the viewers' attention. The color scheme and cubic shape of this piece is reminiscent of a building block found in any child's toy chest. This understated reference to childhood reminds spectators of an innocent, joyful happiness, free of the impurities that come with growing up.

While both statues project an aura of purity, they each pertain to a certain aspect of love's wholesomeness. Rodin's sculpture is a perfect moment of pure adoration, bursting with passion, while Indiana's "LOVE" is a vibrant concrete poem, filled with wonder. Each statue is irresistible to its spectators due to presence, popularity, and placement throughout major cities around the world. Rodin's "The Kiss" was created in a time when controversial images were unsuitable for the general populace, and the naked body was considered obscene. Indiana's "LOVE" was made during WWII as a pop-art icon of the free love movement. Both statements in their own time, these two sculptures are intense declarations of the meaning of love.

The meaning of love is ambiguous to many, but Rodin and Indiana capture love's essence like a ray of light in a prism. Each facet of love provides some kind of axiom that somehow manages to always seem new. The constant discovery of this absolute truth keeps any viewer intrigued by challenging them to generate their own adaptation of love's true sense. Love has a myriad of meanings, all unified by the tenderness and splendor that it brings. Anyone who has ever felt love has been moved by its presence. Having the ability to demand the recognition and celebration of love is an honorable intention that the harsh world of today requires.

Learn more about this author, Taylor Seno.
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