Self portrait with collage.

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992) with Tom Warren, Self-Portrait of David Wojnarowicz, 1983–84. Acrylic and collaged paper on gelatin silver print, 60 × 40 in. (152.4 × 101.6 cm). Collection of Brooke Garber Neidich and Daniel Neidich, Photograph by Ron Amstutz

Self portrait with collage.

David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night
July 13–Sept 30, 2018

Self portrait with collage.

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992) with Tom Warren, Self-Portrait of David Wojnarowicz, 1983–84. Acrylic and collaged paper on gelatin silver print, 60 × 40 in. (152.4 × 101.6 cm). Collection of Brooke Garber Neidich and Daniel Neidich, Photograph by Ron Amstutz

Self portrait with collage.

Beginning in the late 1970s, David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992) created a body of work that spanned photography, painting, music, film, sculpture, writing, and activism. Largely self-taught, he came to prominence in New York in the 1980s, a period marked by creative energy, financial precariousness, and profound cultural changes. Intersecting movements—graffiti, new and no wave music, conceptual photography, performance, and neo-expressionist painting—made New York a laboratory for innovation. Wojnarowicz refused a signature style, adopting a wide variety of techniques with an attitude of radical possibility. Distrustful of inherited structures—a feeling amplified by the resurgence of conservative politics—he varied his repertoire to better infiltrate the prevailing culture.

Wojnarowicz saw the outsider as his true subject. Queer and later diagnosed as HIV-positive, he became an impassioned advocate for people with AIDS when an inconceivable number of friends, lovers, and strangers were dying due to government inaction. Wojnarowicz’s work documents and illuminates a desperate period of American history: that of the AIDS crisis and culture wars of the late 1980s and early 1990s. But his rightful place is also among the raging and haunting iconoclastic voices, from Walt Whitman to William S. Burroughs, who explore American myths, their perpetuation, their repercussions, and their violence. Like theirs, his work deals directly with the timeless subjects of sex, spirituality, love, and loss. Wojnarowicz, who was thirty-seven when he died from AIDS-related complications, wrote: “To make the private into something public is an action that has terrific ramifications.”

This exhibition is co-curated by David Kiehl, Curator Emeritus, and David Breslin, DeMartini Family Curator and Director of the Collection.

Major Support for David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night is provided by the Ford Foundation; The Thompson Family Foundation, Inc.; and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Significant support is provided by The Keith Haring Foundation Exhibition Fund, Brooke and Daniel Neidich, the Trellis Fund, and the Whitney’s National Committee.

Generous support is provided by Philip Aarons and Shelley Fox Aarons, Susan and John Hess, Nancy and Fred Poses, The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, and Fern and Lenard Tessler.

Additional support is provided by James E. Cottrell and Joseph F. Lovett, the Daniel W. Dietrich II Foundation, and Gregory R. Miller and Michael Wiener.


RELATED EXHIBITIONS

Also open concurrently, The Unflinching Eye: The Symbols of David Wojnarowicz is on view at NYU's Mamdouha Bobst Gallery through September 30, 2018, and Soon All This Will be Picturesque Ruins: The Installations of David Wojnarowicz is on view at P.P.O.W through August 24, 2018.

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Gallery 1

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Gallery 2

Stencil of a burning house.

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Gallery 3

A sculpture of a head made out of maps.

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Gallery 4

David Wojnarowicz sitting backwards on a chair.

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Gallery 5

Man pointing a gun.

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Gallery 6

Black and white photograph of David Wojnarowicz.

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Gallery 7

Painting of frog in water, with scenes of the cosmos and people engaged in sexual activities in black and white.

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Gallery 8

David Wojnarowicz reading.

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Gallery 9

Photograph of a dead man in black and white.

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Gallery 10

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Gallery 11

Two prints of the geographic United States with green text overtop.

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Events

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Audio Guides

Self portrait with collage.

Hear directly from artists and curators on selected works from the exhibition.

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Album: No Motive

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No Motive is an album recorded by 3 Teens Kill 4, a band that included David Wojnarowicz as well as Doug Bressler, Brian Butterick, Julie Hair, and Jesse Hultberg. By 1980, punk’s DIY aesthetic had permeated the East Village scene, and an increasing number of visual artists were experimenting with post-punk music. Wojnarowicz began exploring musical projects when he became a busboy at the nightclub Danceteria. The constant exposure to music—often performed by ad-hoc bands—prompted the artist and two friends to start their own group, naming it after a New York Post headline. Wojnarowicz did not play an instrument; he instead focused on captured sounds played from a handheld tape recorder. The low fi collaging of audio fragments contributed to the band’s distinctive sound. Though 3 Teens Kill 4 would continue in different configurations until 1987, Wojnarowicz left in 1983 to focus on his visual art.

3 Teens Kill 4, No Motive. Point Blank Records 1982, l'Invitation au Suicide 1984, remastered by Dark Entries Records 2017. Doug Bressler, Brian Butterick, Julie Hair, Jesse Hultberg, David Wojnarowicz

Installation Photography

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). Clockwise, from top left: Andreas Sterzing, Something Possible Everywhere: Pier 34, NYC, 1983-84; David Wojnarowicz, Fuck You Faggot Fucker, 1984; Peter Hujar, Untitled (Pier), 1983; Peter Hujar, Canal Street Piers: Krazy Kat Comic on Wall [by David Wojnarowicz], 1983; David Wojnarowicz, Untitled, 1982; David Wojnarowicz, Untitled (Slam Click), 1983. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right, top to bottom: Untitled (Falling Man and Map of the U.S.A.), 1982; Untitled (Burning House), 1982; 3 Teens Kill 4—No Motive poster, 1982-83; Untitled (Falling Man and Other Stencils), 1982; Untitled (Dog Head), 1982; David Wojnarowicz and Kiki Smith, Untitled (Psychiatric Clinic), 1983; Savarin Coffee, 1983; Hujar Dreaming, 1982; Meat Franks, 1983; True Myth (Kraft Grape Jelly), 1983; Diptych II, 1982; Untitled, 1985; Untitled (Running Soldier in Camouflage and Gunsight), 1982; Prison Rape, 1984; Untitled (Camouflaged Plane with Red Dancer), 1982; Delta Towels, 1983; Jean Genet Masturbating in Metteray Prison (London Broil), 1983; Untitled (Sirloin Steaks), 1983; David Wojnarowicz and Kiki Smith, Untitled (Skull with Fetish Figure and Globe), 1984; Tuna, 1983; Peter Hujar, Untitled (David Wojnarowicz), 1984; Untitled (Skull with globe in mouth), 1984; Untitled, 1982; Incident #2—Government Approved, 1984; Martinson Coffee, 1983; Untitled (Frog and Snake), 1983; Untitled (Two Heads), 1984. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: The Newspaper as National Voodoo: A Brief History of the U.S.A., 1986; History Keeps Me Awake at Night (For Rilo Chmielorz), 1986; The Death of American Spirituality, 1987; Queer Basher/Icarus Falling, 1986; Unfinished Film (A Fire in My Belly), 1986-87; Unfinished Film (Mexico, etc… Peter, etc…), 1987; Unfinished Film (with sequence in memory of Peter Hujar), c. 1987; Unfinished Film (Mexico Film Footage II), c. 1988; A Worker, 1986; The Birth of Language II, 1986; Das Reingold: New York Schism, 1987; Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water, 1986. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Queer Basher/Icarus Falling, 1986; Unfinished Film (A Fire in My Belly), 1986-87; Unfinished Film (Mexico, etc… Peter, etc…), 1987; Unfinished Film (with sequence in memory of Peter Hujar), c. 1987; Unfinished Film (Mexico Film Footage II), c. 1988; A Worker, 1986. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Queer Basher/Icarus Falling, 1986; Unfinished Film (A Fire in My Belly), 1986-87; Unfinished Film (Mexico, etc… Peter, etc…), 1987; Unfinished Film (with sequence in memory of Peter Hujar), c. 1987; Unfinished Film (Mexico Film Footage II), c. 1988; A Worker, 1986. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with video projections on the walls

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Unfinished Film (A Fire in My Belly), 1986-87; Unfinished Film (Mexico, etc… Peter, etc…), 1987; Unfinished Film (with sequence in memory of Peter Hujar), c. 1987; Unfinished Film (Mexico Film Footage II), c. 1988; Water, 1987. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with video projections on the walls
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Das Reingold: New York Schism, 1987; Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water, 1986; Dung Beetles II: Camouflage Leads Us Into Destruction, 1986; Peter Hujar, David Lighting Up, 1985; Peter Hujar, David Wojnarowicz Reclining (II), 1981; Peter Hujar, David Wojnarowicz, 1981; Mexican Crucifix, 1987; Peter Hujar Dreaming/Yukio Mishima: Saint Sebastian, 1982; I Use Maps Because I Don’t Know How to Paint, 1984; The Newspaper as National Voodoo: A Brief History of the U.S.A., 1986. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with paintings on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Fire, 1987; Wind (For Peter Hujar), 1987. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with paintings on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Something from Sleep II, 1987-88; Bad Moon Rising, 1989; He Kept Following Me, 1990; I Feel A Vague Nausea, 1990; Americans Can’t Deal with Death, 1990; We Are Born into a Preinvented Existence, 1990. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall and in cases

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Sex Series (for Marion Scemama), 1989; Untitled, 1987 (printed 1988); Untitled, 1987 (printed 1988); Untitled, 1987 (printed 1988); Untitled (Hujar Dead), 1988-89; Spirituality (For Paul Thek), 1988-89; Silence Through Economics, 1988-89. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall and in cases
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Sex Series (for Marion Scemama), 1989; Untitled, 1987 (printed 1988); Untitled, 1987 (printed 1988); Untitled, 1987 (printed 1988); Untitled (Hujar Dead), 1988-89. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Ant Series, 1988-89; Something from Sleep III (For Tom Rauffenbart), 1989. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with paintings on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: He Kept Following Me, 1990; I Feel A Vague Nausea, 1990; Americans Can’t Deal with Death, 1990; We Are Born into a Preinvented Existence, 1990. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with paintings on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Ant Series, 1988-89; Something from Sleep III (For Tom Rauffenbart), 1989; Untitled, 1987 (printed 1988); Untitled, 1987 (printed 1988); Untitled, 1987 (printed 1988). Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Untitled (One Day This Kid…), 1990-91; Arthur Rimbaud in New York, 1978-79 (printed 1990). Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall and in cases

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: What Is This Little Guy’s Job in the World, 1990; Untitled (ACT-UP), 1990; Sub-Species Helms Senatorius, 1990; Bread Sculpture, 1988-89; Untitled (Face in Dirt), 1991 (printed 1993). Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall and in cases
An image of the Whitney galleries with a single artwork on the wall

David Wojnarowicz with Tom Warren, Self-Portrait of David Wojnarowicz, 1983-84 (installation view, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). Acrylic and collaged paper on gelatin silver print, 58 1/2 x 39 in. (148.6 x 99.1 cm). Collection of Brooke Garber Neidich and Daniel Neidich. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with a single artwork on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Arthur Rimbaud in New York, 1978-79 (printed 1990); Arthur Rimbaud in New York, 1979; Arthur Rimbaud in New York, 1978-79 (printed 1990); Arthur Rimbaud in New York, 1978-79 (printed 1990); Autoportrait – New York, 1980; Arthur Rimbaud in New York, 1978-79 (printed 1990); Arthur Rimbaud in New York, 1978-79 (printed 1990); Rimbaud Mask, c. 1978; Untitled (Joseph Beuys), 1979; Untitled (Genet after Brassaï), 1979; Bill Burroughs’ Recurring Dream, 1978; Arthur Rimbaud in New York, 1978-79 (printed 2004). Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various plinths with artwork

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right, front to back: Untitled, 1984; Untitled, 1984; Untitled (Map Head), 1984; Untitled, 1984; Untitled, 1984; Untitled, 1984; Untitled, 1984; Untitled, 1984; Untitled, 1984; Untitled, 1984; Untitled, 1984. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various plinths with artwork
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall and in cases

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Science Lesson in 3D, 1984; Peter Hujar, David Lighting Up, 1985; Peter Hujar, David Wojnarowicz Reclining (II), 1981; Peter Hujar, David Wojnarowicz, 1981; Peter Hujar, David Wojnarowicz with Hand Touching Eye, 1981; Peter Hujar, David Wojnarowicz in Dianne B. Fashion Shoot II, 1983; Peter Hujar, David Wojnarowicz (Village Voice “Heartsick: Fear and Loving in the Gay Community”), 1983. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall and in cases
An image of a hanging sculpture

David Wojnarowicz, Science Lesson in 3D, 1984 (installation view, David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). Acrylic on collaged paper and papier-mâché, monofilament wire, nail, glass, rock, and plastic toys, 34 x 13 x 13 in. (86.4 x 33 x 33 cm). Collection of Gail and Tony Ganz. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of a hanging sculpture
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: I Use Maps Because I Don’t Know How to Paint, 1984; Untitled (Green Head), 1982; Dung Beetles II: Camouflage Leads Us Into Destruction, 1986. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various photographs on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Peter Hujar, David Lighting Up, 1985; Peter Hujar, David Wojnarowicz Reclining (II), 1981; Peter Hujar, David Wojnarowicz, 1981; Peter Hujar, David Wojnarowicz with Hand Touching Eye, 1981; Peter Hujar, David Wojnarowicz in Dianne B. Fashion Shoot II, 1983; Peter Hujar, David Wojnarowicz (Village Voice “Heartsick: Fear and Loving in the Gay Community”), 1983. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various photographs on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Untitled (Peter Hujar Dreaming), 1982; Peter Hujar Dreaming/Yukio Mishima: Saint Sebastian, 1982. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Untitled (Peter Hujar Dreaming), 1982; Peter Hujar Dreaming/Yukio Mishima: Saint Sebastian, 1982; I Use Maps Because I Don’t Know How to Paint, 1984; Untitled (Green Head), 1982. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with paintings on the wall and standing vitrines

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). On wall from left to right, top to bottom: Untitled (Falling Man and Map of the U.S.A.), 1982; Untitled (Burning House), 1982; 3 Teens Kill 4—No Motive poster, 1982-83; Untitled (Falling Man and Other Stencils), 1982; Untitled (Dog Head), 1982; David Wojnarowicz and Kiki Smith, Untitled (Psychiatric Clinic), 1983; Savarin Coffee, 1983; Hujar Dreaming, 1982; Meat Franks, 1983; True Myth (Kraft Grape Jelly), 1983; Diptych II, 1982; Untitled, 1985; Untitled (Running Soldier in Camouflage and Gunsight), 1982; Prison Rape, 1984; Untitled (Camouflaged Plane with Red Dancer), 1982; Delta Towels, 1983; Jean Genet Masturbating in Metteray Prison (London Broil), 1983; Untitled (Sirloin Steaks), 1983; David Wojnarowicz with Kiki Smith, Untitled (Skull with Fetish Figure and Globe), 1984. In vitrines, left to right: Untitled, 1984; Untitled, 1984; Untitled, 1984; Untitled (Map Head), 1984; Untitled, 1984. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with paintings on the wall and standing vitrines
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water, 1986; Dung Beetles II: Camouflage Leads Us Into Destruction, 1986. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: The Birth of Language II, 1986; Das Reingold: New York Schism, 1987. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: I Use Maps Because I Don’t Know How to Paint, 1984; The Newspaper as National Voodoo: A Brief History of the U.S.A., 1986; History Keeps Me Awake at Night (For Rilo Chmielorz), 1986. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with a painting on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: The Death of American Spirituality, 1987; Evolution, 1987. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with a painting on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with paintings on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Water, 1987; Earth, 1987. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with paintings on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with a video projected on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Unfinished Film (A Fire in My Belly), 1986-87; Unfinished Film (Mexico, etc… Peter, etc…), 1987; Unfinished Film (with sequence in memory of Peter Hujar), c. 1987; Unfinished Film (Mexico Film Footage II), c. 1988. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with a video projected on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Queer Basher/Icarus Falling, 1986; Unfinished Film (A Fire in My Belly), 1986-87; Unfinished Film (Mexico, etc… Peter, etc…), 1987; Unfinished Film (with sequence in memory of Peter Hujar), c. 1987; Unfinished Film (Mexico Film Footage II), c. 1988; A Worker, 1986. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with a small speaker on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Something from Sleep II, 1987-88; Audio recordings of Wojnarowicz reading in 1992 at the Drawing Center, New York, at a benefit for Needle Exchange. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with a small speaker on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Childhood, 1988; Untitled, 1987; Something from Sleep II, 1987-88; Bad Moon Rising, 1989. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Childhood, 1988; Untitled, 1987. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall and vitrines

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Untitled, 1987; Something from Sleep II, 1987-88; Bad Moon Rising, 1989; Phil Zwickler, Footage of Wojnarowicz speaking about the National Endowment for the Arts controversy, 1989; I Feel A Vague Nausea, 1990; Americans Can’t Deal with Death, 1990; We Are Born into a Preinvented Existence, 1990. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall and vitrines
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Weight of the Earth, Part II, 1988-89; Weight of the Earth, Part I, 1988; Something from Sleep IV (Dream), 1988-89; Fever, 1988-89. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Untitled (When I Put My Hands on Your Body), 1990; Untitled (SOMETIMES I COME TO HATE PEOPLE), 1992; Bread Sculpture, 1988-89; Untitled (One Day This Kid…), 1990-91. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Ant Series, 1988-89; Something from Sleep III (For Tom Rauffenbart), 1989; Untitled (Globe of the United States), 1990; Globe of the United States, 1990; Untitled, 1988-89. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Untitled (When I Put My Hands on Your Body), 1990; Untitled (SOMETIMES I COME TO HATE PEOPLE), 1992; Untitled (One Day This Kid…), 1990-91. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Weight of the Earth, Part II, 1988-89; Weight of the Earth, Part I, 1988; Something from Sleep IV (Dream), 1988-89; Fever, 1988-89; Globe of the United States, 1990; Untitled (Globe of the United States), 1990; Untitled (When I Put My Hands on Your Body), 1990; Untitled (SOMETIMES I COME TO HATE PEOPLE), 1992; He Kept Following Me, 1990. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Untitled (Joseph Beuys), 1979; Untitled (Genet after Brassaï), 1979; Bill Burroughs’ Recurring Dream, 1978. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Arthur Rimbaud in New York, 1978-79 (printed 1990); Arthur Rimbaud in New York, 1979; Untitled, 1984; Arthur Rimbaud in New York, 1978-79 (printed 1990); Arthur Rimbaud in New York, 1978-79 (printed 1990); Arthur Rimbaud in New York, 1978-79 (printed 1990); Arthur Rimbaud in New York, 1978-79 (printed 1990). Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of the Whitney galleries with various artworks on the wall
An image of a vitrine with journal pages in it

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 13-September 30, 2018). From left to right: Journal entry, New York (Piers text and sketch), 1979-80; Journal entry, Paris (Rimbaud J.O. Study #1), 1979-80; Journal insert, Paris (Rimbaud Masturbation Study #2), 1979-80; Journal entry, France (Rimbaud sketches and photobooth strips), 1979. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

An image of a vitrine with journal pages in it

Exhibition Catalogue

This richly illustrated book—the most definitive source on Wojnarowicz to date—is the first to comprehensively examine the artist’s life and work, pushing beyond the biographical focus that has characterized much previous scholarship. The excerpt featured here includes a selection from David Breslin’s overview essay as well as a preview of the plate section, which includes close examinations of groups of works by David Kiehl.

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In the News

“There is a sense that he was working against time to depict the humanity of AIDS victims, to show the meaning of his own suffering to a country that didn’t seem to care.”
—The New Yorker

“The current showcasing of Wojnarowicz’s work, however, isn’t about an artist whose work has been isolated in time, so much as it’s about an artist whose voice, artwork, and thinking have transcended time.”
—The Quietus

“At a retrospective at the Whitney Museum, the life and work of the artist and AIDS activist are a model for making art out of political anger.”
—The New York Times

"A terrifyingly timely retrospective from one of the most articulate voices to emerge from the AIDS crisis.”
—Them

“David Wojnarowicz was there when we needed him politically 30-plus years ago. Now we need him again, and he’s back in a big, rich retrospective.”
—The New York Times

“It is an astonishingly relevant, urgently important retrospective. Miss it, and you miss transcendental levels of incredulity, indignation, vulnerability, lamentation, fighting back — ultimately, what it means to be human in a time of encroaching political darkness.”
—Vulture

“The retrospective, as many have noted, could not be more timely, arriving in a charged political moment not unlike the one from which Wojnarowicz emerged as a voice of searing honesty.”
—The Guardian

“A retrospective of an artists’ artist displays the wrathful gorgeousness of queer art as AIDS approached.”
—Garage

“The show discovers the qualities that make his work universal and meaningful in any age where hate, fear, and ignorance jostle with understanding and acceptance.”
—The Art Newspaper

“The retrospective allows us to finally glimpse Wojnarowicz whole; it is a must-see event for anyone who believes in the necessity of love, empathy, and moral rightness.”
—WNYC

“Rarely has an artist’s life been as intricately entwined with the objects on view — a visual life story.”
—The Village Voice

“’David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night’ gathers works spanning fourteen years of a short but prolific career, and crafts a compelling narrative of the artistic and political development of an exceptional and yet quintessentially American figure."
—Art in America

“The most powerful moments of the exhibition have a moral grandeur rare in contemporary art, as it becomes clear that not only was Wojnarowicz fully cognizant of the tools being used against him, he made the onslaught the subject of his work.”
—The Washington Post


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