FLAGELLANT, 1963/69, begun in Indiana's former studio in Coenties Slip and and made of found objects from the decaying New York waterfornt—a wooden colum from a demolished chandlery that was once a mast of a sailling ship in the nineteenth century, ship's rope and iron rings that were once used for rigging and handling freight.
— Robert Indiana
Excerpt from artist's statement "An Indiana Place"
There’s one important thing about FLAGELLANT–it’s not one of the herms, it’s a free standing statue. The ropes are lying quietly on the floor, but there’s always the danger that it will get into motion somehow and, well, flagellate or be used to flagellate.
— Robert Indiana
Colin Sargent, "Interview," Greater Portland (Me.) (Winter 1984), p. 15.
Flagellant was most recently on display in Robert Indiana: The American Dream, at Pace Gallery, New York.