David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night | Art & Artists

July 13–Sept 30, 2018

Exhibition works

11 total
Gallery 9
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Gallery 9

Photograph of a dead man in black and white.
Photograph of a dead man in black and white.

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Untitled, 1988. Gelatin silver print, 30 ½ × 24 ¾ in. (77.5 × 62.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation and the Photography Committee 2007.122a. Image © Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Gallery 9

Wojnarowicz was in the hospital room when Peter Hujar died from complications related to AIDS. He asked the others who were there to leave so that he could film and photograph his friend for the last time. The three tender images of Hujar’s head, hands, and feet installed here come from this final encounter. While Wojnarowicz would continue to draw and paint after Hujar’s death, photography and writing would preoccupy him until the end of his life. He moved into Hujar’s loft, which had a darkroom, enabling him to reconsider—and experiment with—the vast number of negatives he had accumulated over the years. 

During the period covered in this gallery, Wojnarowicz found himself at the center of political debates involving the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). In a newsletter that the American Family Association distributed to criticize NEA funding of exhibitions with gay content, the religious lobby group excerpted Wojnarowicz’s work out of context. He sued for copyright infringement and won. Wojnarowicz’s hand-edited affdavit and related materials are included here. The searing essay he contributed to the catalogue for Witnesses: Against Our Vanishing, an exhibition curated by artist Nan Goldin in 1989, triggered the NEA to withdraw its funding. In it Wojnarowicz strenuously criticized—and personally demonized—conservative policy-makers for failing to halt the spread of AIDS by discouraging education about safe sex practices. One of its most memorable passages is the pronouncement: “WHEN I WAS TOLD THAT I’D CONTRACTED THIS VIRUS IT DIDN’T TAKE ME LONG TO REALIZE THAT I’D CONTRACTED A DISEASED SOCIETY AS WELL.”

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz exhibition.
Installation view of David Wojnarowicz exhibition.

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

Installation view of Gallery 9

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz exhibition.
Installation view of David Wojnarowicz exhibition.

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

Installation view of Gallery 9

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz exhibition.
Installation view of David Wojnarowicz exhibition.

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

Installation view of Gallery 9

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz exhibition.
Installation view of David Wojnarowicz exhibition.

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

Installation view of Gallery 9

Installation view of David Wojnarowicz exhibition.
Installation view of David Wojnarowicz exhibition.

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

Installation view of Gallery 9

Photograph of a dead man in black and white.
Photograph of a dead man in black and white.

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Untitled, 1988. Gelatin silver print, 30 ½ × 24 ¾ in. (77.5 × 62.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation and the Photography Committee 2007.122a. Image © Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Untitled, 1987 (printed 1988)

Photograph of a hand in black and white.
Photograph of a hand in black and white.

David Wojnarowicz, Untitled, 1988. Gelatin silver print, 30 ½ × 24 ¾ in. (77.5 × 62.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation and the Photography Committee 2007.122b. Image © Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Untitled, 1987 (printed 1988)

Photograph of feet on a bed in black and white.
Photograph of feet on a bed in black and white.

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Untitled, 1988. Gelatin silver print, 30 ½ × 24 ¾ in. (77.5 × 62.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation and the Photography Committee 2007.122c. Image © Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Untitled, 1987 (printed 1988)

Collage of words written over images of a dead man's body.
Collage of words written over images of a dead man's body.

David Wojnarowicz, Untitled (Hujar Dead), 1988–89. Black-and-white photograph, acrylic, screenprint, and collaged paper on Masonite, 39 × 32 in. (99.1 × 81.3 cm). Collection of Steven Johnson and Walter Sudol, courtesy Second Ward Foundation. Image courtesy the Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P.P.O.W, New York

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Untitled (Hujar Dead), 1988–89

This painting presents an urgent condemnation of systemic homophobia and government inattention to people with AIDS—including, by that point, Wojnarowicz himself—and expresses the artist’s extreme anger at being at the mercy of those in power. The nine photographs at the center of the painting are of Peter Hujar, taken shortly after his death. The painting was included in Witnesses: Against Our Vanishing at New York’s Artists Space from November 16, 1989, to January 6, 1990. Curated by Nan Goldin, the exhibition also included work by other artists responding to the AIDS crisis: David Armstrong, Tom Chesley, Dorit Cypris, Jane Dickson, Philip-Lorca DiCorcia, Darrel Ellis, Allen Frame, Peter Hujar, Greer Lankton, Siobhan Liddel, James Nares, Perico Pastor, Margo Pelletier, Clarence Elie Rivera, Vittorio Scarpati, Jo Shane, Kiki Smith, Janet Stein, Stephen Tashjian, Shellburne Thurber, and Ken Tisa.

Painting of a face made out of wire floating in the clouds.
Painting of a face made out of wire floating in the clouds.

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Childhood, 1988. Acrylic, watercolor, and collaged paper on canvas, 42 × 47 ½ in. (106.7 × 120.7 cm). Collection of Eric Ceputis and David W. Williams, Photograph by Michael Tropea.

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Childhood, 1988

Seven various photographs in black and white.
Seven various photographs in black and white.

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Spirituality (For Paul Thek), 1988–89. Gelatin silver prints on museum board, 41 × 32 1/2 in. (104.1 × 82.6 cm). Collection of Steve Johnson and Walter Sudol; courtesy Second Ward Foundation. Image courtesy the Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P.P.O.W, New York.

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Spirituality (For Paul Thek), 1988–89

Black and white photograph of ants crawling over coins and a clock buried in gravel.
Black and white photograph of ants crawling over coins and a clock buried in gravel.

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Untitled (Time and Money), from the Ant Series, 1988–89. Gelatin silver print, 16 × 20in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm). Collection of Steve Johnson and Walter Sudol; courtesy Second Ward Foundation. Image courtesy the Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P.P.O.W, New York. 

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Untitled (Time and Money), from the Ant Series, 1988–89

Train with scenes in circles in corners.
Train with scenes in circles in corners.

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Untitled, from the Sex Series (For Marion Scemama), 1989. Gelatin silver print, 16 × 19 13⁄16 in. (40.6 × 50.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from The Sondra and Charles Gilman Jr. Foundation, the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Inc., and the Richard and Dorothy Rodgers Fund 92.75.5. Image © Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Untitled, from the Sex Series (For Marion Scemama), 1989

The works in Wojnarowicz’s Sex Series are punctuated with circular insets containing an array of cropped details, including pornographic imagery. For Wojnarowicz, these voyeuristic “peepholes” evoked surveillance photos or objects under a microscope. This was one of his first projects after Hujar’s death and Wojnarowicz’s own diagnosis with HIV. “It came out of loss,” he said. “I mean every time I opened a magazine there was the face of somebody else who died. It was so overwhelming and there was this huge backlash about sex, even within the activist community. . . . And it essentially came out of wanting some sexy images on the wall—for me. To keep me company. To make me feel better.”

Black and white image of plane and couple having sex.
Black and white image of plane and couple having sex.

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Untitled, from the Sex Series (For Marion Scemama), 1989. Gelatin silver print, 16 × 19 13⁄16 in. (40.6 × 50.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from The Sondra and Charles Gilman Jr. Foundation, the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Inc., and the Richard and Dorothy Rodgers Fund 92.75.3. Image © Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Untitled, from the Sex Series (For Marion Scemama), 1989

Image of New York City with sex scene in top left.
Image of New York City with sex scene in top left.

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Untitled, from the Sex Series (For Marion Scemama), 1989. Gelatin silver print, 16 × 19 13⁄16 in. (40.6 × 50.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from The Sondra and Charles Gilman Jr. Foundation, the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Inc., and the Richard and Dorothy Rodgers Fund 92.75.1. Image © Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Untitled, from the Sex Series (For Marion Scemama), 1989

Painting of a man peering through a microscope.
Painting of a man peering through a microscope.

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Something from Sleep III (For Tom Rauffenbart), 1989. Acrylic on canvas, 49 x 39 in. (124.5 x 99.1 cm). Collection of Tom Rauffenbart. Image courtesy the Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P.P.O.W, New York.

David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Something from Sleep III (For Tom Rauffenbart), 1989

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