David Wojnarowicz
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| David Wojnarowicz | |
 A famous image of David Wojnarowicz |
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| Born | September 14, 1954 |
| Died | July 22, 1992 (aged 37) |
| Nationality | American |
David Wojnarowicz (September 14, 1954 - July 22, 1992) was a gay painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, and activist who was prominent in the New York City art world of the 1980s.[1]
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[edit] Biography
He 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 and worked as a farmer on the Canadian border.
Upon returning to New York City, he saw a particularly prolific period for his artwork from the late 1970s through the 1980s. During this period, 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.
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. [2]
Wojnarowicz died of AIDS related complications on July 22, 1992. His personal papers are part of the Downtown Collection held by the Fales Library at New York University.
[edit] Books
- Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration. (1991). Vintage Books.
- Tongues Of Flame
- Memories That Smell Like Gasoline.
- The Waterfront Journals. (1997). Grove/Atlantic.
- Rimbaud In New York 1978 - 1979. (with Andrew Roth)
- In the Shadow of the American Dream: The Diaries of David Wojnarowicz (Amy Scholder, editor)
- Willie World (illustrator; written by Maggie J. Dubris)
[edit] Films
- Postcards From America - a non-linear biography of David Wojnarowicz (Steve McLean, director)
[edit] Critical studies and adaptations
- David Wojnarowicz: Brush Fires in the Social Landscape. (1995). Aperture.
- Wojnarowicz, David, Romberger, James, and Van Cook, Marguerite. Seven Miles a Second. (1996). DC Comics. (Autobiographical comic book partly scripted by Wojnarowicz, partly adapted posthumously from his diaries.)
- 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).
[edit] Archival Collections
The David Wojnarowicz Papers are located in the Fales Library at New York University. The Fales Library Guide to the David Wojnarowicz Papers 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. The Fales Library Guide to the John Hall Papers
[edit] References
- ^ "David Wojnarowicz at P.P.O.W. and Roth Horowitz" (HTML). findarticles.com. 04 2005. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_4_93/ai_n13629229. Retrieved on 2007-02-20.
- ^ See Wojnarowicz v. American Family Association, 745 F.Supp 130 (1990).
