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Eat

1962, cast 1991

Images

Eat is a 58 5/8 by 15 by 12 5/8 painted bronze sculpture of a beam with a tenon, standing on a base. A wheel is affixed to the right and left sides at the bottom of the sculpture. In between a red number 25 has been painted. A peg protrudes from the center of the sculpture, and at the top of the sculpture is a red circle containing the word "eat" painted in green stenciled letters.

Eat

1962, cast 1991

Painted bronze

58 5/8 × 15 × 12 5/8 in. (148.8 × 38.1 × 32 cm)

Edition of eight plus two artist's proofs.

 

Photo: Courtesy of Walla Walla Foundry, Washington; Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Right profile view of the bronze herm Eat. A red stenciled letter "I" is painted above the base. Above this a wheel has been attached. A whole in the wood is visible in the in the sculpture's haunched tenon.

Right side

Verso of the bronze herm Eat. Two rectangular shapes have been carved out of the sculpture.

Verso

The left profile view of the bronze herm Eat. Just above the base "19" is stenciled in green above "62", stenciled in red. The "19" is not visible in the image s it is obscured by the wheel attached just above it. A whole is visible in the work's haunched tenon.

Left side

Description

Eat, a painted bronze rendition of Indiana’s herm Eat (1962), was first exhibited in Robert Indiana: Early Sculpture, 1960–1962, at the Salama-Caro Gallery in London. Indiana considered bronze, along with marble, to be one of the noble materials in the tradition of European sculpture. Because of this, as well as the longevity of the material, the artist had long wanted to turn his herms into bronze. This dream was realized in 1991, when bronze versions of eight of Indiana’s early herms were created.

Eat is currently on display in Robert Indiana: The Sweet Mystery, at the Procuratie Vecchie, Venice.