The British photographer (and occasional Wallpaper* contributor) Chris Floyd is best known for his portraiture, but it’s the humble landscape that headlines in his new exhibition, launched at fashion and homeware brand Anthropologie’s store in Chelsea.
Entitled ‘The Infinity Degree’, the exhibition weaves together a tapestry of images captured by happenstance, with the earliest image dating back to 2000 and the most recent shot taken just two months ago. ‘In the same way that Marmite is a natural byproduct of beer brewing, these pictures are a byproduct of my other projects,’ quips the photographer.
Delving into his archive, Floyd was struck by a common visual thread linking images separated by several years and vast distances. Here, a sense of scale and space was in play, with compositions that deliberately turned large objects into small ones, and vice versa.
Now based in London, Floyd previously lived in the US for several years, traversing 40-odd states on assignment for the likes of The New York Times. Many of the works are plucked from his American travels, though the show is peppered with stills from more far-flung locales such as Berlin and Cape Town.
A North Dakota barn tilts impossibly askew in one image; elsewhere, in Los Angeles, a motel glows nuclear-green in the night. ‘In my ordinary daily life, I’m quite anxious. I worry about the world and the future and everything,’ Floyd explains. ‘['The Infinity Degree'] was a sort of attempt to create a calm bucolic sense of order.’
Floyd was 14 years old when he first discovered photography, finding it ‘a brilliant catalyst to explore things I was curious about’. In a sense, ‘The Infinity Degree’ is a return to this spontaneous impetus – a refreshingly modest expression of photography. It’s simply being.
The photographs, collectively named 'The Infinity Degree', share a distorted sense of scale and space. Pictured: Rome, 2003
Floyd, who described himself as perpetually anxious, said: ‘[The Infinity Degree] was a sort of attempt to create a calm bucolic sense of order.' Pictured: Cape Town, 2005
Floyd spent several years living and working in the US, and much of the series draws from his time there. Pictured: North Dakota, 2002
Connecticut, 2002
North Dakota, 2002
The series is peppered with stills from more far-flung locales as the French Riviera. Pictured: Cote d'Azur, 2005
Cape Town, 2005
INFORMATION
‘The Infinity Degree’ runs until 13 March 2016. For more information, visit Chris Floyd’s website
ADDRESS
Anthropologie
131–141 Kings Road
London, SW3 4PW
-
Must-visit cinemas with award-worthy designCreativity leaps the screen at these design-led cinemas, from Busan Cinema Centre’s record-flying roof to The Gem Cinema Jaipur’s art deco allure
-
The modernist home of musician Imogen Holst gets Grade II listingThe daughter of the composer Gustav Holst lived here from 1964 until her death, during which time the home served a locus for her own composition work, which included assisting Benjamin Britten
-
This fun and free-spirited photography exhibition offers a chromatic view on the world‘Chromotherapia’ at Villa Medici in Rome, explores how we view colour as a way of therapy, and how it has shaped photography over the last century (until 9 June 2025)
-
‘Leigh Bowery!’ at Tate Modern: 1980s alt-glamour, club culture and rebellionThe new Leigh Bowery exhibition in London is a dazzling, sequin-drenched look back at the 1980s, through the life of one of its brightest stars
-
‘Yay, To Have a Mouth!’: a London show explores our oral fixation, from Freud to fairytalesThis group show at Rose Easton gallery in east London, created in collaboration with Ginny on Frederick, uncovers our fascination with the mouth
-
High low culture and the sickly sweetness of Tootsie Rolls: Derrick Adams in LondonDerrick Adams plays with themes of Black Americana in ‘Situation Comedy’ at Gagosian London.
-
The Barbican as muse: composer Shiva Feshareki on bringing the brutalist icon to life through musicFor the last two years, British-Iranian experimental composer and turntablist Shiva Feshareki has been drawing on the Barbican’s hidden history as a gateway for her new piece. She talks to Wallpaper* about her Brutalist muse
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been doing this weekA taste of the dolce vita in London, some permanent artwork and a new eyeshadow palette – it's our editors' picks of the week
-
'We need to be constantly reminded of our similarities' – Jonathan Baldock challenges the patriarchal roots of a former Roman temple in LondonThrough use of ceramics and textiles, British artist Jonathan Baldock creates a magical and immersive exhibition at ‘0.1%’ at London's Mithraum Bloomberg Space
-
Discover Rotimi Fani-Kayode's fluid photographs of the queer male body, on show in London‘Rotimi-Fani Kayode: The Studio – Staging Desire’ at Autograph ABP celebrates the work of the Nigerian-born photographer
-
Saatchi Gallery is in full bloom with floral works from Vivienne Westwood, Marimekko, Buccellati and more‘Flowers – Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture’ at Saatchi Gallery, London, explores the relationship between creatives and their floral muses, and spans from fashion and jewellery to tattoos
