Transcending love in the modern age
Love has for centuries and millennia gripped the imaginations of artists. It was a central theme of the Italian Renaissance and regarded as a philosophical and political ideal by the nineteenth-century Romantics. In our post-industrial, capitalist age, artists have viewed love differently, while many reject it entirely.
Noble and Webster, in the tradition of Pop artists such as Robert Indiana, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, parody the language and symbols of love appropriated in popular culture and monetised by card companies and advertisers.
Feminist artists Judy Chicago and Deborah Kass exploit these familiar symbols and slogans to challenge the gender imbalance and sexual politics of conventions around love and relationships.
Meanwhile, for Tracey Emin, love, sex, heartbreak and loss are universal emotions which remain at the core of contemporary lived experience. In a similar vein, symbols of love are intrinsically tied to explorations of life, death and decay by Damien Hirst and Anya Gallaccio.
Browse artworks
We Rose Up Slowly, 1964, Roy Lichtenstein:
I Love You (in homage to Jack Pierson), 2013, Peter Blake:
Flowers, 1970, Andy Warhol:
Purple Valentine, undated, Terry Frost:
I (Heart) YOU, 2000 (I LOVE YOU), Tim Noble and Sue Webster:
Forever (version 1), 2001, Tim Noble and Sue Webster:
Puny Undernourished Kid & Girlfriend From Hell (Diptych), 2004, Tim Noble and Sue Webster:
fuckingbeautiful, (hot pink), 2000, Tim Noble and Sue Webster:
Man with Rose Mouth from the Heads Up series, 2008, Judy Chicago:
You Made Me Love You, 2007, Deborah Kass:
Do You Wanna Funk With Me, 2008, Deborah Kass:
My Heart is with you Always, 2014, Tracey Emin:
I promise to Love You, 2010, Tracey Emin:
All You Need Is Love. Love. Love – Diamond Dust, 2009, Damien Hirst:
Six Dozen Red Roses, 1994, Anya Gallaccio:
Red On Green, 2012, Anya Gallaccio:
Pink Rose, 1940, Victor Pasmore:
Related pages
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Images from the top: LOVE, 1966-1998, Robert Indiana © 2015 Morgan Art Foundation Ltd. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, DACS, London; We Rose Up Slowly, 1964, Roy Lichtenstein © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein/DACS 2015; I Love You (in homage to Jack Pierson), 2013, Peter Blake © Peter Blake, All Rights Reserved, DACS 2015, Image: © Waddington Custot Galleries, Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd; Flowers, 1970, Andy Warhol © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / DACS; Purple Valentine, undated, Terry Frost © Estate of Terry Frost. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2015, Image courtesy Estate of Terry Frost; I (Heart) YOU, 2000 (I LOVE YOU), Tim Noble and Sue Webster © Tim Noble and Sue Webster, All Rights Reserved, DACS 2015, Photo: Andy Keate; Forever (version 1), 2001, Tim Noble and Sue Webster © Tim Noble and Sue Webster, All Rights Reserved, DACS 2015, Photo: Douglas & Fran Parker; Puny Undernourished Kid & Girlfriend From Hell (Diptych), 2004, Tim Noble and Sue Webster © Tim Noble and Sue Webster, All Rights Reserved, DACS 2015, Photo: Andy Keate; fuckingbeautiful, (hot pink), 2000, Tim Noble and Sue Webster © Tim Noble and Sue Webster, All Rights Reserved, DACS 2015, Photo: Andy Keate; Man with Rose Mouth from the Heads Up series, 2008, Judy Chicago © Judy Chicago, ARS, NY and DACS, London 2015, Photo: © Donald Woodman; You Made Me Love You, 2007, Deborah Kass © Deborah Kass, ARS, NY and DACS, London 2015; Do You Wanna Funk With Me, 2008, Deborah Kass © Deborah Kass, ARS, NY and DACS, London 2015; My Heart is with you Always, 2014, Tracey Emin © Tracey Emin, All rights reserved, DACS 2015, Image courtesy White Cube; I promise to Love You, 2010, Tracey Emin © Tracey Emin, All rights reserved, DACS 2015, Image courtesy Lehmann Maupin; All You Need Is Love. Love. Love – Diamond Dust, 2009, Damien Hirst © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd, All rights reserved, DACS 2015, Image courtesy of Other Criteria; Six Dozen Red Roses, 1994, Anya Gallaccio © Anya Gallaccio, All Rights Reserved, DACS 2015; Red On Green, 2012, Anya Gallaccio © Anya Gallaccio, All Rights Reserved, DACS 2015; Pink Rose, 1940, Victor Pasmore © Estate of Victor Pasmore, All Rights Reserved, DACS 2015, Photo: John Pasmore.