Stephen Floyd exhibition, NYC

Drawing of a america inn
Americ Inn, 2009
(Image credit: TBC)

Irreverent, witty and a little smut-riddled, Stephen Floyd’s artistic agenda stands somewhere between hard-hitting, high-art irony and low-fi birthday card cartoonistry.

Entitled I Love America and America Loves Me, Floyd’s latest exhibition at the Heist Gallery, New York, takes the contemporary pop agenda as its own.

Channelling the spirit of an unassuming Andy Warhol, Floyd takes everything from panties and penises to boats and footballs as inspiration - drawing on common objects, themes and conversations to inform his refreshingly simple, yet provocative, sketches.

Multi-coloured; adorned with Floyd’s trademark bubbled-up text and with little left to the imagination - images of penises scrawled with ‘self portrait’ and pulled up panties bearing the title ‘camel toe’ provide some idea of Floyd’s penchant for all things low-brow.

Described by Floyd himself as ‘artistic masturbation’, the drawings are indulgent: compulsive, sketchy and imbued with a sense of mischief, the show could certainly be described as self-satisfying.

That said, with political undertones interweaved throughout, there are depths to Floyd's seemingly superficial work – a map of America scrawled with ‘condom nation’ is a particular highlight - leaving it up to the viewer to decide whether ‘I Love America and America Loves Me’ is high-colour art world frippery at its best or something altogether more sinister.

Drawing of a dick

Self Portrait, 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

Picture of a wood

Blaming Post, 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

Drawing of a triangle shape

Made in America, 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

Drawing of a pink panty

Camel Toe, 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

Drawing of a crow

Kick Pigeon, 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

Drawing of a nasa spacecraft

Sick Bird, 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

Drawing of a green panty

Basic Panties, 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

Drawing of a watermelon

Knee-Grows, 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

Drawing of a america map

I Love America and America Loves Me, 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

Drawing of a black cone

Dunce, 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

Drawing of a boats in circle

Boats in Circle, 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

Drawing of a Invisible Plane text

Invisible Plane, 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

Drawing of a no flags in text

No Fags, 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

Drawing of a text

Four Fish, 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

Drawing of four text

Four Rivers, 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

Drawing of a america map

Condom Nation, 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

Drawing of a bicep and vien

Soloflex, 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

Drawing of a pink dinosaur

Liccalottapus. 2009

(Image credit: TBC)

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Harriet Lloyd-Smith was the Arts Editor of Wallpaper*, responsible for the art pages across digital and print, including profiles, exhibition reviews, and contemporary art collaborations. She started at Wallpaper* in 2017 and has written for leading contemporary art publications, auction houses and arts charities, and lectured on review writing and art journalism. When she’s not writing about art, she’s making her own.