The Whitney currently has on view a terrific retrospective of the work of the multi-disciplinary artist and activist, David Wojnarowicz.
David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night begins in 1979 with his photographs of three friends as they wandered around NYC wearing masks of the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, then on to the early 80s when he created artwork on found materials (supermarket ads, garbage can lids), painted murals on the Hudson River Piers (most often at Pier 34 off of Canal Street), and played in the post-punk band 3 Teens Kill 4—their 1983 album No Motive plays in the exhibit's first gallery and can also be heard at whitney.org/wojnarowicz.
Wojnarowicz was born in Red Bank, New Jersey in 1954 to a boozing, abusive father who was a merchant marine, according to the New York Times. After his parents divorced, Wojnarowicz lived in foster homes, attended Catholic school, and prostituted himself for cash in his teens before decamping to NYC permanently in 1979.
He met the photographer Peter Hujar in 1980 and the two shared a brief romantic relationship. Hujar, who was twenty years older and an established artist, became a mentor to Wojnarowicz and encouraged him to paint. The pair remained close until Hujar's death from AIDS-related complications in 1987. Wojnarowicz memorialized Hujar by taking moving photographs of the artist's head, hands, and feet as he lay in his hospital bed moments after his death. According to the The Whitney's wall text, Wojnarowicz described Hujar as "my brother, my father, my emotional link to the world."
In the mid 80s, Wojnarowicz's work stood up for outsiders and marginalized groups and criticized the government's indifference to the AIDS epidemic which was taking the lives of thousands including many of the artist's friends and contemporaries. Wojnarowicz was diagnosed with HIV in 1988.
Wojnarowicz was a poet and a writer prior to becoming a visual artist, according to exhibition's notes. A fan of the work of Rimbaud, Jean Genet, Jack Kerouac, and William S. Burroughs, he often incorporated text into his artwork. His later pieces, heavily layered with prose, are impassioned, poetic, and powerful, denouncing homophobia and politicians who refused to take action amid the AIDS crisis.
Wojnarowicz died from complications related to AIDS on July 22, 1992 at the age of 37.
Two concurrent exhibitions are also on view in NYC—The Unflinching Eye: The Symbols of David Wojnarowicz at NYU's Mamdouha Bobst Gallery (70 Washington Square South) through September 30 and Soon All This Will be Picturesque Ruins: The Installations of David Wojnarowicz at P.P.O.W gallery (535 W 22nd Street) through August 24.
Read about the censorship debate Wojnarowicz's 13-minute film, A Fire In My Belly, sparked in 2010 here. Learn more about David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake At Night at whitney.org. Through September 30, 2018.
Self-Portrait of David Wojnarowicz, 1983-1984, David Wojnarowicz with Tom Warren
Arthur Rimbaud in New York, 1978-1979 (printed 2004)
Autoportrait—New York, 1980
Untitled (Genet After Brassaï), 1979
Exhibition view, gallery of David Wojnarowicz's early works
L-R (top) Jean Genet Masturbating in Metteray Prison (London Broil), 1983; Untitled (Sirloin Steaks), 1983; Tuna, 1983; Untitled (David Wojnarowicz), Peter Hujar, 1984; Untitled, 1982 [spray paint on metal trashcan lid]; Incident #2—Government Approved, 1984; Martinson Coffee, 1983; Untitled (Frog and Snake), 1983; Untitled (Two Heads), 1984; (bottom) Untitled (Skull with Fetish Figure and Globe), 1984, David Wojnarowicz with Kiki Smith; Untitled (Skull with globe in mouth), 1984
David Wojnarowicz Reclining (II), 1981 and David Wojnarowicz, 1981, Peter Hujar
History Keeps Me Awake At Night (For Rilo Chmielorz), 1986
Untitled, 1987 (printed 1988)
He Kept Following Me, 1990
Untitled (When I Put My Hands On Your Body), 1990
Untitled (One Day This Kid...), 1990-1991