“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
Excerpt from Robert Indiana, interview by Susan Elizabeth Ryan, Ph.D., Vinalhaven, ME, May 5, 1992 (Robert Indiana: Figures of Speech Archive, 1987-2005)
