David Wojnarowicz & The Art Scene In New York’s East Village in the 1980’s
The art industry was very big in New York’s East Village in the 1980’s. Many musicians and artists got their start there, and it became almost a sanctuary for them. There were many neighborhoods, such as Alphabet City, Loisaida, and the Bowery, where these countercultures and artistic movements got their beginning. The East Village is still known for its artistic culture and nightlife, but it does not contain nearly as much galleries, exhibits, and unusual and inspirational artistic meccas as it used to.
It all started in the 1960’s, when the East Village was still known as part of the Lower East Side. When artists and hippies began to move into the area and develop their own culture, it became known as the East Village, and its music and art scene began to develop. Bands like the Talking Heads, The Velvet Underground, and the Grateful Dead were just some of the few bands who got their start in the East Village.
Many artists gained fame due to the artistic opportunities that the East Village offered. Andy Warhol is probably one of the first and most famous to get their start in the East Village. He rented out a warehouse, known as “The Factory”, where he and fellow artists experimented with film, silk screens, and other forms of art. Many other artists and musicians found artistic freedom in the east village, including Warhol’s close friend Jean-Michel Basquiat, The Velvet Underground’s lead singer Loud Reed, Kutztown-born Keith Haring, the very prolific and shock provoking David Wojnarowicz.
David Wojnarowicz was born in Red Bank, New Jersey in 1954. He had an extremely difficult childhood - he was a homosexual and his family life was very abusive. After traveling all over the United States and parts of Europe he finally ended up in the East Village in 1978. Wojnarowicz was a painter, sculptor, filmmaker, photographer, writer, performance artist and actor. He was in a band for a short time called 3 Teens Kill Four, but they only released one record and were popular mainly for their cover of “Tell Me Something Good.“ Most of Wojnarowicz’s work is derived from his personal experiences and the people he met during his travels, and it often summarizes the revealing and hard-hitting themes of homosexual, the human anatomy, AIDS, and violence. Although David Wojnarowicz was known to be a quiet, soft-spoken man, his work speaks very loudly. In viewing Wojnarowicz’s work, one may feel like they are intruding in on something that is very personal.
Unfortunately, David Wojnarowicz was a sufferer of the AIDS epidemic. His later works were filled with anger towards society for giving so little attention to this disease that was killing so many people. Since it was labeled as “the gay disease”, people discriminated and did so little to fund for its research and cure. In 1990 he starred in a black and white film documentary with several other gay artists, writers, and musicians called Silence = Death. The idea of the documentary, directed by Rosa Von Praunheim, was that people needed to speak up and become educated about AIDS and HIV, and if they did not, it would just lead to more unnecessary casualties. For this film, Wojnarowicz had his mouth physically sewn shut to present the idea that people should be able to speak their minds and be themselves without risking contempt and hatred from others. He also has made many other videos from an AIDS activist’s standpoint. He is quoted in one of his AIDS activism videos saying, “its the use of aids as a weapon to enforce a conservative agenda, that’s what’s heavy” and that “homosexuals and intravenous drug users are expendable in our society and AIDS is treated the same fucking way that homosexuals and drug users are”. These videos are extremely emotional and you really begin to feel his anger as he rants on about the issue of AIDS awareness.
After David Wojnarowicz was diagnosed with AIDS, he said he felt “an incredible pressure to leave something of himself behind.” I believe that he definitely left a big part of himself behind in his work. His work in AIDS activism is still important to people today who share the same beliefs, and his artwork is still greatly appreciated among artists and art-lovers today. David Wojnarowizc was just one member of the large amount of creative entities that made of New York’s East Village in the 1980’s. The art scene in the East Village declined in the late 1980’s and eventually moved over to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with what some believe to be less luster and appeal.
Works Cited
1. Andy Warhol Biography. Artelino. http.//www.artelino.com/articles/andy_warhol.asp.
2. David Wojnarowicz. http://www.queer-arts.org.
3. East Village, Manhattan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/east_village,_manhattan.
4. YouTube. David Wojnarowicz Part 2 and 3. www.youtube.com.
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David Wojnarowicz was very inspirational to many, including his fellow artists. His legacy has continued to grow since his unfortunate premature death due to AIDS, but he certainly achieved his stated goal of "leaving something of himself behind".
ReplyDeleteThe East Village: It was a wild time indeed mainly, I think, because it became the focal point for so much artistic activity, due in large part to the unreceptivness to new ideas from the prevailing established leading edge art world. It was also fragile. By early 1987 the number of galleries had grown to over 100,and by the late 80's the number was down to a half dozen or so. All the leading ones had relocated to SoHo or closed for good. As you said about what you learned from our day in NYC, "you just have to jump in and do it".
FYI: Warhol's Factory was technically not in the East Village and in fact, pre-dates the term, although the spirit of both certainly had a lot in common. See:
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID025.htm