Robert Indiana, Peace Plunges in Despair, 2004

Peace Plunges in Despair, 2004

Silkscreen on Somerset Velvet Paper

35 × 35 inches

Pencil signed and numbered A.P. 9/12 on the front, aside from the regular edition of 50.  This scarce and poignant 2004 silkscreen was based upon the eponymous 2003 Robert Indiana painting exhibited at Kasmin Gallery in New York City.  Here is an excerpt from a May, 2004 review of this show: ..."Mr. Indiana's new paintings address a theme that has been much on people's minds since Sept. 11, 2001: peace, or rather the absence of peace. Each diamond-shaped canvas features a circle, like a life-saver, bearing block-lettered sentences about the loss of peace: ''Peace falls in terror,'' ''Peace dives in oblivion,'' ''Peace plunges in despair.'' Within each circle is the familiar forked peace sign. The paintings also look like traffic signs. The combination of the high-contrast colors, sharp edges and centered, mandalalike compositions packs significant visual punch, while echoes of Mondrian and the hard-edged geometric painting of the 1960's add art historical resonance. The sentiments expressed may seem at first too general to be very affecting, but the way these pictures recall the Vietnam era politically as well as stylistically is evocative. They should be reproduced as posters and disseminated around the nation..."KEN JOHNSON

SIGNATURE

Pencil signed and numbered A.P. 9/12 on the recto