Fire Bridge

Robert Indiana’s work recalls a barge fire he saw outside his window on the East River. The artist combined the vivid spectacle with well-known depictions of the Brooklyn Bridge by the artist Joseph Stella. Can you pick out the bridge’s gothic archways and suspended cables? While the sweeping lines and dynamic blocks of color refer both to dramatic real-life events and to earlier artworks, Indiana’s flat, mechanical technique also suggests the color reproductions found in art books and advertising logos. As such, the work deliberately mixes the worlds of art, commerce, and daily experience.

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