Love is in the air

Love, love, love. It’s everywhere this week. From the marriage of Harry and Meghan to hand-holding couples walking down the street to the death of Robert Indiana—the creator of the iconic pop-art LOVE image.

US Postal service makes a big coup

LOVE was originally designed as the 1964 Christmas card for the NYC Museum of Modern Art. It was quickly picked up by the US Postal Service and made into one of the most popular stamps ever. The rest of LOVE is history and can be seen in every corner of the world in every language from supermarkets to art galleries to street corners.

Robert Indiana was a gay man at a time when it wasn’t popular or even legal to be gay in many places. When he first started working on LOVE in the 1960s, he started designing with a very different and cruder four letter word in mind. (One that begins with the letter F.) As time passed, he changed his mind and remembered the immortal words that have come down through the centuries: love conquers all.

While I have passed this sculpture on many occasions, I couldn’t for the life of me give you an exact address. I’m like that about a lot of things in New York. My feet just take me to the right place. Or not. Because love IS in the air during this lusty month of May, my feet carried me quite unexpectedly to the ground zero of love.

Did you fall in love this May?

 

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