It’s been a long road for the East Village artist known as Flloyd since he left Atlanta behind — along with his given name — and came to New York City in 1983.
The move made sense for an artist who “dressed in drag every day and took acid every other day” while living with his roommates RuPaul and Lady Bunny in that southern metropolis. Of his beginnings in his new home, Flloyd recalls that “Ru and I were homeless, we slept in parks a lot. My first real apartment wasn’t until 1985, in Spanish Harlem.”
He’s been in the East Village for many decades now, making art and doing what he needed to do to survive while becoming a central figure in the local scene.
“I’ve been fired from every job I’ve ever had,” he admits. That resume of failures is quite impressive: comic book inker, facility manager at Kickstarter, food delivery, beverage manager, and gigs at Temptu and the Gap Design Center, among others.
Along the way, he has “always made art.” That art has manifested itself in many mediums; he’s performed onstage at Wigstock and with Blacklips, go-go danced with the Butthole Surfers, done standup comedy, made videos and films, sculpture, electronic music and explored painting as well, which will shortly be on display at the Howl! Happening gallery.
Back in the early days, he recalls finding pieces of marble cast off from construction sites and using “a high heel clog and a screwdriver” to shape his pieces.
In 1998, he reached a turning point facilitated by a visit to the NY Bondage Club.
“I was broke, suicidal, unemployed and I hadn’t paid my rent in a year,” he admits. After a liaison with a wealthy hookup, where he found himself playing the “master” role, the man informed Flloyd that he was “the best he’d ever had” and said that he’d “be a fool if he didn’t start charging for it.”
So he cashed in some bonds, bought a cell phone and found himself with up to three clients a day.
“Sex saved my life,”…
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