Robert Indiana's last sculpture — in the style of his iconic "LOVE" — "BRAT."

"Brat," meaning bratwurst, commissioned by Johnsonville Sausage, the Wisconsin manufacturer of brats.  There's a lawsuit accusing Indiana's associates of taking advantage of him in his old ages, the NYT reports, and the revelation of "BRAT" seems

[A] company that had long acted as Mr. Indiana’s business agent, Morgan Art Foundation, accused [Michael McKenzie, an associate of Mr. Indiana, who worked with the fabricators of "BRAT"] and the artist’s caretaker in Maine of isolating him from his old friends and business connections so they could market unauthorized or adulterated versions of his work....

McKenzie noted that Indiana had renamed himself after his home state and was into midwesternness, and brats are a big Wisconsin thing, but no one seems to be saying that Indiana had a special love of brats. I guess the question is whether Indiana chose to make money by trading on "LOVE."

It seems particularly prostitute-y when LOVE is for sale.

I feel sorry for Johnsonville Sausage, which bought something cool for itself and now finds a cloud hanging over it.

Pop art has always had playful reference to commercial art, so are commissions like "BRAT" really a sellout?

Here's a photo of one of Indiana's "LOVE" sculptures I took the last time I was in Indianapolis:



Indiana did many versions of "LOVE." Here's a list at Wikipedia. If he did all those, why wouldn't he do "BRAT"? How serious was he about "LOVE"? And, more importantly (from a Wisconsin perspective), how serious are brats?

At the Love Café...

... you can talk about whatever you like.

The photo is from the Indianapolis Museum of Art, where we wandered around last Saturday. The acrylic wash drawing on the wall is "Wall Drawing No. 652" by Sol Le Witt. The big "Love" sculpture, by Robert Indiana, is one of a series that uses the word "love" written like that, as a block of 2 layers of 2 letters, with the "O" at an angle (presumably to remind you of penis-in-vagina sexual love).

Here's another room, a composition I call "Man In Shorts Walking Away from a Woman in Shorts":



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