David Wojnarowicz

(American, 1954–1992)

David Wojnarowicz was an American artist and AIDS activist. Throughout his career, he used painting, performance, film, and photography to draw attention to civil rights and gay identity within American popular culture. Many of Wojnarowicz’s projects are drawn from his own life or from individuals he met during his travels: After dropping out of school, Wojnarowicz began hitchhiking across the United States before eventually settling in the New York art scene. While living there with AIDS in the 1980s, he wrote of his art: “I’m in the throes of facing my own mortality and in attempting to communicate what I’m expressing or learning in order to try and help others I am effectively silenced. I am angry.” He is perhaps best known for his black-and-white film A Fire in My Belly (1986–1987) which, 18 years after his death, sparked national controversy. When the piece was exhibited in 2010 at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., protests led by the Catholic League revived a conservative culture war similar to the one that had surrounded photographer Robert Mapplethorpe decades earlier, and brought renewed interest in Wojnarowicz’s life and work. Born on September 14, 1954 in Red Bank, NJ, he grew up partly in New York City, when he returned in the late 1970s and fell in with a group of East Village artists that included Nan Goldin, Kiki Smith, and Peter Hujar, all of whose work explored in on personal identity in various ways. Wojnarowicz's work are in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, among others. The artist died of AIDS at the age of 37 on July 22, 1992 in New York, NY.

David Wojnarowicz News

Art & Exhibitions

More Than 800 Zines Created by Artists From Raymond Pettibon to Miranda July Are Going on View in a Major Museum Show

by Min Chen
More Than 800 Zines Created by Artists From Raymond Pettibon to Miranda July Are Going on View in a Major Museum Show
Art World

‘A Face Is Not Just a Face’: Is It Finally Time for the Gay Gaze of Unsung Portraitist Gilbert Lewis?

by William Van Meter
‘A Face Is Not Just a Face’: Is It Finally Time for the Gay Gaze of Unsung Portraitist Gilbert Lewis?
Politics

Following ACT UP Protest, the Whitney Draws Attention to the Ongoing AIDS Epidemic With a New David Wojnarowicz Wall Text

by Sarah Cascone
Following ACT UP Protest, the Whitney Draws Attention to the Ongoing AIDS Epidemic With a New David Wojnarowicz Wall Text

David Wojnarowicz Artworks

Artworks for Sale &
Auction Results

David Wojnarowicz (249 results)
True Myth (Domino Sugar), 1983

David Wojnarowicz

True Myth (Domino Sugar), 1983

Sale Date: November 9, 2022

Auction Closed

Untitled (Falling Man and the Map of the USA), 1982

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled (Falling Man and the Map of the USA), 1982

Sale Date: October 25, 2022

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1982

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled, 1982

Sale Date: October 25, 2022

Auction Closed

Untitled (Gorilla), 1984

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled (Gorilla), 1984

Sale Date: September 29, 2022

Auction Closed

Untitled (Buffaloes), 1988

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled (Buffaloes), 1988

Sale Date: August 18, 2022

Auction Closed

TRUE MYTH (DOMINO SUGAR), 1983

David Wojnarowicz

TRUE MYTH (DOMINO SUGAR), 1983

Sale Date: June 17, 2022

Auction Closed

Untitled (Burning House), 1982

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled (Burning House), 1982

Sale Date: May 24, 2022

Auction Closed

Untitled (Pampers), 1984

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled (Pampers), 1984

Sale Date: May 13, 2022

Auction Closed

Sex Series (For Marion Scemama), 1989–1990

David Wojnarowicz

Sex Series (For Marion Scemama), 1989–1990

Sale Date: May 13, 2022

Auction Closed

David Wojnarowicz

"True Myth (Kraft Grape Jelly)" serigraph, 1983

Sale Date: May 11, 2022

Auction Closed

Fuck You Faggot Fucker, 1984

David Wojnarowicz

Fuck You Faggot Fucker, 1984

Sale Date: May 18, 2022

Auction Closed

Untitled (Act Up Diptych), 1990

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled (Act Up Diptych), 1990

Sale Date: April 19, 2022

Auction Closed

Earth & Wind; and Fire & Water, from Four..., 1990

David Wojnarowicz

Earth & Wind; and Fire & Water, from Four..., 1990

Sale Date: April 19, 2022

Auction Closed

Untitled (Burning House), 1982

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled (Burning House), 1982

Sale Date: March 24, 2022

Auction Closed

Untitled (from The Metamorphosis series), 1984

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled (from The Metamorphosis series), 1984

Sale Date: March 10, 2022

Auction Closed

True Myth (Kraft Grape Jelly), 1983

David Wojnarowicz

True Myth (Kraft Grape Jelly), 1983

Sale Date: February 16, 2022

Auction Closed

Dollar Bill, 1984

David Wojnarowicz

Dollar Bill, 1984

Sale Date: December 17, 2021

Auction Closed

Untitled (To Luis from David), 1985

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled (To Luis from David), 1985

Sale Date: November 10, 2021

Auction Closed

Something from Sleep IV (Dream), 1988–1989

David Wojnarowicz

Something from Sleep IV (Dream), 1988–1989

Sale Date: November 12, 2021

Auction Closed

Dad's Ship, 1984

David Wojnarowicz

Dad's Ship, 1984

Sale Date: November 12, 2021

Auction Closed

Jean Genêt Masturbating in Metteray Prison, 1983

David Wojnarowicz

Jean Genêt Masturbating in Metteray Prison, 1983

Sale Date: October 21, 2021

Auction Closed

Arthur Rimbaud in New York (Motorcycle, , 1978–1979

David Wojnarowicz

Arthur Rimbaud in New York (Motorcycle, , 1978–1979

Sale Date: September 17, 2021

Auction Closed

Untitled for ACT UP., 1990

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled for ACT UP., 1990

Sale Date: August 19, 2021

Auction Closed

Untitled (Voodoo Doll and Spider)., 1990

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled (Voodoo Doll and Spider)., 1990

Sale Date: August 19, 2021

Auction Closed

English (US)

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