The gutsy, sardonic, and often erotic sculptures of Steven Ashby challenge the notion that folk art must be an innocent expression of traditional values. In his "fixing-ups," crudely fashioned from cast-off materials, Ashby frequently addressed erotic themes with keen wit and sly humor. After his retirement and the death of his wife, Ashby created numerous assemblages from recycled materials—odd pieces of lumber, logs, branches, roots, broken children's toys, discarded hardware, hickory nuts, fabric, and photos cut from men's magazines. He even dressed some of his female figures in his late wife's clothes and costume jewelry. Ashby displayed many of his nearly life-size figures and whirligigs in his yard; he kept his more outrageous tableaux inside his house, refusing to show them to female visitors.

In Large Lady in Beige Outfit, Ashby used ordinary materials and simple joining techniques to create a memorable portrait of a dissolute woman. Using roughly cut logs for the torso and legs, branches for the arms, sections of two-by-fours for the protruding breasts, and a minimally shaped board for the neck and head, Ashby skillfully captured the combative posture of a tough broad in action. Legs spread, torso turned to the left, the woman twists her head back to the right as if to respond to an unwelcome remark. The sloppy red mouth, raised black eyebrows, and deep black circles under the eyes suggest hard-earned experience with the ways of the world. The woman's low-cut blouse, skirt, and bra (her straps are showing) may have belonged to Ashby's wife. Ever attentive to erotic possibility, Ashby made sure that, beneath her skirt, the woman is anatomically correct.

Cheryl Rivers, "Large Lady in Beige Outfit," in Stacy C. Hollander, American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 387-88.