Athough known primarily for his use of short, direct words, Indiana also incorporated longer words into his paintings. In a 1965 interview with the collector Dr. Arthur C. Carr, Indiana discussed the paintings Made in USA and Polygon: Triangle (1962), noting that “‘Tintinabulation’ is not what I would call a serious painting. It’s a diversion and ‘Andabatarianism’ is another . . . with those two paintings I’m just fascinated with the length of the word.” [1]
An "andabata" was a Roman gladiator who fought blindfolded and the word came to characterize someone struggling blindly. The word "andabatariansism" appears to be a neologism of Indiana's creation. Combined with the phrase “Made in USA,” the painting points to the contradictions at the heart of the American Dream. [2]
[1] Arthur C. Carr, “The Reminiscences of Robert Indiana,” New York, November 1965, Arthur C. Carr papers; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library, p. 76.
[2] Susan Elizabeth Ryan, Robert Indiana: Figures of Speech (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), pp. 142–43.