“5 has always been to me . . . it is the prime of life. Or one of the high points of a man’s life. It is its relationship to the star. And the star, after all, is the real symbol of the United States. So it is always an American 5 . . . ’65, it was an important year because then I moved to Spring Street. I left Coenties Slip. And probably, I can’t really recall about the CHIEF . . . but what am I saying, of course I know why the CHIEF is there. In ’65 I had an exhibition in Washington. I was at the White House. I was a guest of President Johnson. One of my paintings [The Calumet] was exhibited . . . CHIEF is the president and he lives in Washington.”
— Robert Indiana
Susan Elizabeth Ryan, interview with Robert Indiana, May 5, 1992, Robert Indiana: Figures of Speech Archive, 1987–2005.
