. . . one of my early constructions, which used to be in the collection of Philip Johnson—. It was a slim, very stern, very solemn little construction with almost no application of any particular artistic ingenuity. It’s a very prim, pure kind of piece called LAW. Well, for me it had all kinds of—. On Coenties Slip I was arrested for washing my windows on Sunday, you see. And so at that particular time I had very bad feelings about the law and the kind of injustices that underprivileged people in New York enjoy.
— Robert Indiana
Donald B. Goodall, “Conversations with Robert Indiana,” in Robert L. B. Tobin, William Katz, and Donald B. Goodall, Robert Indiana (Austin: University of Texas, 1977), p. 41.