David Wojnarowicz

David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz, from his film A Fire in My Belly
Born	September 14, 1954(1954-09-14) Red Bank, New Jersey
Died	July 22, 1992(1992-07-22) (aged 37) Manhattan, New York City, New York
Nationality	American

David Wojnarowicz (pronounced /ˌvɔɪnəˈroʊvɪtʃ/, US dict: voy′·nə·rō′·vĭch; September 14, 1954 – July 22, 1992) was a painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, and activist who was prominent in the New York City art world of the 1980s.

Biography

Wojnarowicz was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, and later lived with his mother in New York City, where he attended the High School of Performing Arts for a brief period. From 1970 until 1973, after dropping out of school, he for a time lived on the streets of New York City prostituting himself and also worked as a farmer on the Canadian border.

Upon returning to New York City, he went through a particularly prolific period for his artwork from the late 1970s through the 1980s. During this time, he made super-8 films, such as Heroin, began a photographic series of Arthur Rimbaud, did stencil work, played in a band called 3 Teens Kill 4, and exhibited his work in well-known East Village galleries, notably Civilian Warfare, Ground Zero Gallery NY, Gracie Mansion and Hal Bromm. Wojnarowicz is also connected to other prolific artists of the time, appearing in or collaborating on works with artists like Nan Goldin, Peter Hujar, Luis Frangella, Karen Finley, Kiki Smith, John Fekner, Richard Kern, James Romberger, Ben Neill and Phil Zwickler.

In 1985, he was included in the Whitney Biennial, the so-called Graffiti Show. In the 1990s, he fought and successfully issued an injunction against Donald Wildmon and the American Family Association on the grounds that Wojnarowicz's work had been copied and distorted in violation of the New York Artists' Authorship Rights Act. Wojnarowicz' successful lawsuit represented a notable and affirmative step towards artists rights in the United States.

Wojnarowicz died of AIDS-related complications on July 22, 1992 at the age of 37. His personal papers are part of the Downtown Collection held by the Fales Library at New York University.

His works include: Untitled (One Day This Kid...); Untitled (Buffalo); Water; Birth of Language II; Untitled (Shark), Untitled (Peter Hujar); Tuna; Peter Hujar Dreaming/Yukio Mishima: St. Sebastian; Delta Towels; True Myth (Domino Sugar); Something From Sleep II; Untitled (Face in Dirt); and I Feel a Vague Nausea among others.

After his death, photographer and artist Zoe Leonard, who was a friend of Wojnarowicz, exhibited a work inspired by him, entitled "Strange Fruit (for David)".

Wojnarowicz has served as an inspiration to many artists; those that have credited him as an influence include: Zoe Leonard, Victoria Yee Howe, Matt Wolf, Emily Roysdon, Henrik Olesen, Mike Estabrook, and Carrie Mae Weems.

"A Fire in My Belly" controversy

In November 2010, G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian, removed an edited version of footage used in Wojnarowicz's short silent film A Fire in My Belly (available online) from the exhibit "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture" at the National Portrait Gallery after complaints from the Catholic League and Rep. John Boehner. One segment of the film shows ants crawling over a crucifix.

In response, The Andy Warhol Foundation, which had provided a $100,000 grant to the exhibition, announced that it would not fund future Smithsonian projects, while several institutions, including SFMOMA and Tate Modern, scheduled showings of the removed work.

Collective Exhibitons

• 2010: Les Rencontres d'Arles festival, France.

Books

• Sounds In The Distance. (1982). Aloes Books.
• Tongues Of Flame. (Exhibition Catalog). (1990). Illinois State University.
• Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration. (1991). Vintage Books.
• Memories That Smell Like Gasoline. (1992). Artspace Books.
• Seven Miles a Second. (Collaborative graphic novel with James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook, completed posthumously). (1996). Vertigo/DC Comics.
• The Waterfront Journals. (1997). Grove/Atlantic.
• Rimbaud In New York 1978 - 1979. (Edited by Andrew Roth). (2004). Roth Horowitz, LLC/PPP Editions.
• In the Shadow of the American Dream: The Diaries of David Wojnarowicz. (Amy Scholder, editor). (2000). Grove/Atlantic.
• Willie World. (Illustrator; written by Maggie J. Dubris). (1998). C U Z Editions.

Films

• Postcards From America - a non-linear biography of David Wojnarowicz (Steve McLean, director)

Critical studies and adaptations

• David Wojnarowicz: Brush Fires in the Social Landscape. (1995). Aperture.
• Wojnarowicz, David, et al., ed. Amy Scholder. Fever: The Art of David Wojnarowicz. (1999). New Museum Books.
• David Wojnarowicz : A Definitive History of Five or Six Years on the Lower East Side, interviews by Sylvère Lotringer, edited by Giancarlo Ambrosino (2006).
• David Wojnarowicz : Tongues of Flame, edited by Barry Blinderman, 1990, ISBN 094558155

Archival Collections

The David Wojnarowicz Papers are located in the Fales Library at New York University. The Fales Library also houses the papers of John Hall, a high school friend of Wojnarowicz. The papers include a small collection of letters from Wojnarowicz to Hall.

See also

• Joel Wachs, head of Andy Warhol Foundation, protested removal of Wojnarowicz piece

External links

• P.P.O.W Gallery New York, Estate of David Wojnarowicz
• NYU's Fales Library and Special Collections Guide to the David Wojnarowicz Papers
• NYU's Fales Library and Special Collections Guide to the John Hall Papers-contain letters from Wojnarowicz
• David Wojnarowicz by Dan Cameron and Dennis Szakacs
• David Wojnarowicz Reading
• David Wojnarowicz & Doug Bressler: (1984) "American Dreamtime" published at Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine
• NYU's Fales Library and Special Collections Guide to the David Wojnarowicz--Janine Pommy-Vega Letters
• Huffington Post analysis of the Smithsonian Wojnarowicz controversy*
• David Wojnarowicz Journals: Years Ago Before the Nation went Bankrupt*