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

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

‘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?

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

David Wojnarowicz (249 results)

Exhibition cards and flyer]. Group of three. , 1983

David Wojnarowicz

Exhibition cards and flyer]. Group of three. , 1983

Sale Date: August 13, 2020

Auction Closed

Times Square Cowboy, 1980–1989

David Wojnarowicz

Times Square Cowboy, 1980–1989

Sale Date: August 13, 2020

Auction Closed

Two inscribed photographs of David..., 1978

David Wojnarowicz

Two inscribed photographs of David..., 1978

Sale Date: August 13, 2020

Auction Closed

Poppies, 1980

David Wojnarowicz

Poppies, 1980

Sale Date: August 13, 2020

Auction Closed

Small archive of song lyrics from his..., 1979–1983

David Wojnarowicz

Small archive of song lyrics from his..., 1979–1983

Sale Date: August 13, 2020

Auction Closed

At the Track Emanuel Pancake recalled, 1977

David Wojnarowicz

At the Track Emanuel Pancake recalled, 1977

Sale Date: August 13, 2020

Auction Closed

Man Holding Rat

David Wojnarowicz

Man Holding Rat

Sale Date: August 13, 2020

Auction Closed

Coin Slot Man

David Wojnarowicz

Coin Slot Man

Sale Date: August 13, 2020

Auction Closed

Tuner Fish

David Wojnarowicz

Sale Date: August 13, 2020

Auction Closed

Group of 6 drawings, 1970

David Wojnarowicz

Group of 6 drawings, 1970

Sale Date: August 13, 2020

Auction Closed

Stoned Sketchbook, 1970–1979

David Wojnarowicz

Stoned Sketchbook, 1970–1979

Sale Date: August 13, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1990

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled, 1990

Sale Date: June 24, 2020

Auction Closed

UNTITLED (SHEEP'S SKULL), 1984

David Wojnarowicz

UNTITLED (SHEEP'S SKULL), 1984

Sale Date: May 14, 2020

Auction Closed

WHERE I'LL GO AFTER I'M GONE, 1988–1989

David Wojnarowicz

WHERE I'LL GO AFTER I'M GONE, 1988–1989

Sale Date: May 14, 2020

Auction Closed

PLANE CRASH, 1983

David Wojnarowicz

PLANE CRASH, 1983

Sale Date: May 1, 2020

Auction Closed

UNTITLED, 1987

David Wojnarowicz

UNTITLED, 1987

Sale Date: March 6, 2020

Auction Closed

PLANE CRASH, 1983

David Wojnarowicz

PLANE CRASH, 1983

Sale Date: March 6, 2020

Auction Closed

DESERT JOURNAL, 1986

David Wojnarowicz

DESERT JOURNAL, 1986

Sale Date: November 15, 2019

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1982

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled, 1982

Sale Date: October 25, 2019

Auction Closed

Untitled (ACT UP Diptych) (2), 1990

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled (ACT UP Diptych) (2), 1990

Sale Date: October 20, 2019

Auction Closed

Untitled (ART), 1985

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled (ART), 1985

Sale Date: September 27, 2019

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1982

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled, 1982

Sale Date: September 27, 2019

Auction Closed

Desde New York, 1990

David Wojnarowicz

Desde New York, 1990

Sale Date: June 20, 2019

Auction Closed

True Myth / [Domino Sugar, 1983

David Wojnarowicz

True Myth / [Domino Sugar, 1983

Sale Date: June 20, 2019

Auction Closed

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