In 1960, while cleaning out an unused area of the artist Lenore Tawney’s studio, Indiana uncovered a cache of nineteenth-century brass stencils originally used for labeling crates and packaging. These objects sparked his interest in using stenciled letters in his paintings and sculptures, and one in particular, “The American Hay Company,” inspired his use of words in a circular format.
The artist began using these stencils to create drawings in 1961, when he started experimenting in frottage, a technique that involves rubbing a medium such as pencil or crayon onto a sheet of paper that has been placed on top of a textured object or surface. The American Fly employs the design of “The American Hay Company” stencil, however the word “hay” has been omitted. Indiana often incorporated three-letter words into his work; here he has chosen the word "fly," which appears twice in a cruciform design within the circle. This was inspired by the first American manned space orbit of the earth, which took place on February 20, 1962, with John Glenn aboard the Friendship 7.