David Wojnarowicz was an author, poet, photographer, musician, filmmaker and painter whose work as an AIDS activist influenced his visionary and revolutionary art. Personal experiences of disenfranchisement and the stories of people he met living on the margins of society informed the narratives of his work, with identity, sexuality and a bristling against political structures all contributing to its visceral edge. Wojnarowicz unapologetically channeled his anger at the injustices exacted on minorities and alternative lifestyles through repressive governments and financial systems into his paintings, prints, collages and photography.
Wojnarowicz was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, in 1954. He had a tumultuous childhood, dropping out of high school and living on the streets by the time he was 16. He spent much of his youth hitchhiking, spending time in San Francisco and then Paris.
Wojnarowicz moved to New York’s East Village in 1978, where he began exhibiting his art, which he frequently made from found materials. He became a central figure in the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s, refusing to censor his work, which often forthrightly reflected his queer sexuality and his fury at the conservative establishment. Particularly after the death of his lover Peter Hujar in 1987, he concentrated on the government’s political inaction during the AIDS crisis. As he wrote in his 1991 memoir, Close to the Knives, “To make the private into something public is an action that has terrific repercussions.”
Wojnarowicz died in 1992 from complications due to AIDS. His art is in major collections around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tate Modern and the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, which has championed LGBTQ+ artists such as Wojnarowicz for decades. In 2018, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York held a retrospective of his work.
Find David Wojnarowicz mixed media works, paintings, photography and other art on 1stDibs.
Price Upon Request
Untitled (Arthur Rimbaud in Paris)
By David Wojnarowicz
Located in New York, NY
David Wojnarowicz Untitled (Arthur Rimbaud in Paris) 1980/2023 Estate stamped, verso Archival pigment print (Edition of 100) 6.16 x 4.125 inches, image 10 x 8 inches, sheet Con...
Archival Pigment
Price Upon Request
Untitled (Buffaloes), Black and White Photograph by David Wojnarowicz
By David Wojnarowicz
Located in New York, NY
Untitled (Buffaloes), Photograph by David Wojnarowicz 1988/1994 Estate stamp in black ink, vesro Also initialed “TWR” and numbered in black ink, vesro Platinum print (Edition of 10...
Platinum
Price Upon Request
Rimbaud in New York
By David Wojnarowicz
Located in New York, NY
Gelatin silver print (Edition of 6) Estate stamped in black ink, verso Also initialed "TWR" and numbered in pencil, verso This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York...
Silver Gelatin
Emma in Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, April 1984
By Jonathan Becker
Located in New York, NY
Emma in Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, 1984 Pão de Açucar, (Sugarloaf Mountain), Rio’s defining landmark looms in the background. Photographed by Jonathan Becker Contemporary 14" x 14.5...
Platinum
Southern Oaks
By Beth Moon
Located in Sante Fe, NM
All photographs are platinum/palladium prints. These metals are hand coated on 100% rag cotton water color paper with natural deckled edges and contact printed. Since platinum, like ...
Photographic Paper, Platinum
$3,700
H 11.63 in W 8 in D 0.01 in
Frida at the Barbizon Plaza Hotel - Black and White Portrait, Celebrity, Woman
By Lucienne Bloch
Located in Denton, TX
Frida at the Barbizon Plaza Hotel by Lucienne Bloch is a black and white portrait of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo sitting in a chair under her self portrait hanging on the wall. Im...
Silver Gelatin
$50,000
H 30 in W 40 in
Frank Sinatra on the Boardwalk, Miami, 1968 - Lifetime Platinum Print
By Terry O'Neill
Located in Chicago, IL
Frank Sinatra arrives at Miami beach with his entourage (including his stand-in, dressed in an identical suit and less well-dressed beefy minders) while filming 'The Lady In Cement' ...
Platinum
$3,200
H 20 in W 16 in
Alice Cooper Family Silver Gelatin Print, O'Neill Estate Signature Stamped ED.50
By Terry O'Neill
Located in New York, NY
Alice Cooper, Los Angeles, 1974, Printed Later Silver gelatin print estate stamped and numbered edition of 50 with certificate of authenticity Terry O'Neill, Alice Cooper with his...
Silver Gelatin
$3,800
H 40 in W 30 in
"The Glimmer Twins - Mick Jagger" Photography 40x30 in by Charlie Auringer
By Charlie Auringer
Located in Culver City, CA
"The Glimmer Twins - Mick Jagger" Photography 40x30 in by Charlie Auringer Year: 1978 Edition of 50 Medium: Silver gelatin limited edition photographic print on paper Signed and num...
Silver Gelatin
Grace Jones and Andre Leon Talley at Studio 54
By Andy Warhol
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
This is a unique photographic work taken by Andy Warhol. Grace Jones is a musician and former model. A former star of the Studio 54 disco scene, she is known for her androgynous appearance, bold features, and subversive antics, making her one of the biggest pop stars of the 1980s. Andre Leon Talley...
Silver Gelatin
$20,000
H 10 in W 2 in
Andy Warhol, Photo Booth Strip of Sandy Brant, circa 1967-1970
By Andy Warhol
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
This is a unique work created under the direction of Andy Warhol. In the early days, before he toted around a camera, he would have clients portraits taken at local photo booths. Image dimensions: 10 x 2 in Framed dimensions: 15 3/8 x 8 1/4 in Stamped twice on the reverse by both The Estate of Andy Warhol and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts inventory number written on verso. Work comes with a Certificate of Authenticity from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Provenance: Estate of the Artist to The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts to current owner. Exhibition history -Fotografiska Berlin / Andy Warhol “After the Party...
Silver Gelatin
$12,000
H 14 in W 14 in
Martha Graham with Madonna & Calvin Klein at New York City Center, October 1990
By Jonathan Becker
Located in New York, NY
Martha Graham at New York City Center after her final onstage bow - backstage with Madonna and Calvin Klein, October 1990 "Martha was my godmother, and she was posing." - JB Photog...
Platinum
Jean-Paul Goude & Toukie Smith in NYC Subway, 1976
By Jonathan Becker
Located in New York, NY
Jean-Paul Goude & Toukie Smith in NYC Subway, 1976 Photographed by Jonathan Becker Contemporary 14" x 14.5" Platinum/Palladium Print Edition Nº 1 of 6 Ce...
Platinum
Blue Rumpless Araucana
By Beth Moon
Located in Sante Fe, NM
All photographs are platinum/palladium prints. These metals are hand coated on 100% rag cotton water color paper with natural deckled edges and contact printed. Since platinum, like ...
Platinum
Sundew
By Beth Moon
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Printed in rich platinum/palladium, these intricate and formal portraits depict the delicate but dangerous nature of carnivorous plants. "The poetic sensibility of nature seems to h...
Photographic Paper, Platinum