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The Electric EAT

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The Electric EAT
The Electric EAT

The Electric EAT

Artist (1928 - 2018)
Date1964/2007
MediumPolychrome aluminum, stainless steel, and light bulbs
Dimensions78 × 78 × 7 in. (198.1 × 198.1 × 17.8 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2015.17
Accession number 2015.17
On View
On view
Collections
Provenanceto Morgan Art Foundation; to Shearbrook (US), New York, NY; purchased by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2015
Label TextThis work pays homage to roadside signs remembered from the artist’s youth. Asked to contribute to the 1964 New York World’s Fair, Robert Indiana installed an early version of The Electric EAT on the exterior of a building. Briefly twinkling over fairgoers, the work was turned off after only a day in use following complaints from people mistaking it for a restaurant sign. Positioned across from the Coffee Bar at Eleven, this installation nods to the original, allowing it to live as both a functional sign and work of art.

Esta obra rinde homenaje a los carteles de carretera que el artista recuerda de su juventud. Tras recibir la invitación a contribuir a la Feria Mundial de Nueva York de 1964, Robert Indiana instaló una versión temprana de esta obra en el exterior de un edificio. La obra, que titiló brevemente sobre los asistentes, debió apagarse tras solo un día de uso después de que la gente se quejara de haberla confundido con un cartel de un restaurante. Ubicada frente al Café en Eleven, esta instalación hace alusión a la original, permitiéndole vivir como un cartel funcional y, a su vez, como una obra de arte.
Photography by Edward C. Robison III
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Photo credit: Thomas McFetridge | Courtesy of Crystal Bridges and the Momentary
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