STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Sorry to tell you that the creator of the LOVE sculpture has died. You've seen it, those four letters - the L and the O on top, the V and the E on the bottom. It's in Manhattan and Philadelphia and other cities, including Indianapolis, which is fitting, since the artist was Robert Indiana.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
His website says he was born Robert Clark in New Castle, Ind., and adopted as a child. He grew up poor during the Depression. He served in the Air Force and studied art. By the time of his death last weekend at age 89, his LOVE sculpture was universally known. He once told NPR it was too well-known.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
ROBERT INDIANA: LOVE bit me. It was a marvelous idea, but it was also a terrible mistake. It became too popular. It became too popular. And there are people who don't like popularity. I mean, it's much better to be exclusive and remote.
INSKEEP: Like it or not, Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture has been reproduced on postage stamps, and posters, and T-shirts, and in countless parks and city centers across the world.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE")
THE BEATLES: (Singing) Love, love, love... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.