Untitled, 1992. Gelatin silver print and silkscreened text, 38" x 26"
David Wojnarowicz! He was in the news lately because of a controversial film that had been displayed and then pulled out of the Smithsonian. The third image in this post is a still, actually the still, that had provoked opposition from the Catholic League.
Untitled, from the series Rimbaud in New York, 1977-79
Gelatin silver print.
Gelatin silver print.
These images are more tame than a lot of his work, but I'd say that most of it deals with identity as a gay man and as a victim of AIDS during a time in which little was known about the disease. If you look through his work you'll see his frustration with the widespread ostracization of gay men who were slowly dying from this disease.
An example of the average mindset at the time follows (possibly fodder for wojnarowicz)
"When it began turning up in children and transfusion recipients, that was a turning point in terms of public perception. Up until then it was entirely a gay epidemic, and it was easy for the average person to say 'So what?' Now everyone could relate."Harold Jaffe of the CDC for newsweek"
(This quote was taken years after the first cases were documented.)
Still from film Fire in My Belly (1987)
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to end on a lighter note, basquiat's brown spots (portrait of andy warhol as a banana)
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