David Wojnarowicz (American, 1954 to 1992)
The art of David Wojnarowicz reflects, the harsh experiences of his youth: a difficult home life during childhood, dropping out of high school, hitch-hiking across country, living on the streets.
Despite claiming that he ‘never had what could be described as an art education’, he gleaned valuable and quite sophisticated lessons in assemblage and collage from Bay Area artists such as Jess and Bruce Connor, during a stay in San Francisco.
In 1978 he settled down in East Village, New York, then an incipient art scene animated by makeshift galleries and artists creating work inspired by street art. It was also a haven of radical politics, squatters, punk rockers and drug dealers. It was his kind of place; he thrived in the scene, writing books and creating collages with urgent themes and exquisitely harsh imagery.
In the later 1980s Wojnarowicz was diagnosed with AIDS. The intensely felt expression which had always informed his work, now had a sharply focused purpose, championing the needs of fellow sufferers, advocating tolerance and condemning censorship. The disease overcame him in 1992, aged 37 and in full pursuit of these goals.
Information courtesy of Sotheby’s, September 2008.