David Wojnarowicz

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r1 Aw, shucks. Here ya go:

Amazing.

A pioneer for both the gay and HIV/AIDS communities.

An excerpt from "...Knives".

A genius.

So few replies and this is a gay forum? Um, no.

I have a signed copy of Close to the Knives.

No, I never met him, but I have a signed copy.

When I first moved to NYC in 1998 I went to one of the last art galleries left in Soho to see his posthumous show. I had not been aware of him and was blown away by his restless, angry but sexy work. Since then I have researched Mr W and I will read the book too.

r8 You lucky bastard!

r9 I first got into him in the late '90's. I was 17. I used to stealthily peruse the "Gay & Lesbian" section and his book literally was sticking out. Bought it and was never the same again.

I travelled a lot in my youth (between 18 and 28) and it was mostly his writing that inspired me to do so. Definitely check out the book. You will not regret it.

Also, "The Waterfront Journals" is an exquisite piece of writing. He dedicates each chapter to a person he met along his travels. Each chapter is basically one long monologue written in the voice of the person. Stunning. I've always thought it would've made an amazing stage play.

The deaths of Wojnarowicz and Derek Jarman were what really brought home for me what a catastrophe the AIDS epidemic was.

What a loss.

^^^doubly so, because the filmmaker who would have been my first choice to make a movie of Wojnarowicz's life is. ...Jarman.

r12 YES!

A pic of David back in the day.

Slaying those apathetic bitches.

Such a beautiful soul.

I wonder how he'd feel about the gay activist community's shift from defiant self-expression to the pursuit of marriage and white picket fences.

r16 He'd rebel against it.

More love for David!

I'm improvising on the piano. I've decided to reread "Close to the Knives". It's been five years and I miss David's expansive, sunburnt worldviews.

I'm considering the title "Close to the Knives"...

I've been collecting my improvs - those that seem at the precipice of blossoming into full out compositions - for 5 years now. They're gathering like clouds of a storm.

"Close to the Knives", "Boys for Pele", "Ariel" by Sylvia Plath and a gay Puerto Rican recovering addict come to terms with himself and his life - that's sort of the tone I'm going for, lol.

You'll see...

I wish you all the best with your work, r19, but this being DL, your post necessitates a big

MARY!

r20 lol

I loved him on Barney Miller

I love him.

Remember this? Movie based on his writings with "Christofuh" from the Sopranos, a.k.a., Michael Imperioli as a supporting character.

I think this was my first exposure to Wojnarowicz and I bought some of his books (writings and art) after watching it at a film festival. When Fran Lebowitz talks about how AIDS killed those at the forefront of gay art, and who we're left with are the mediocre talents, I think about where we'd be if Wojnarowicz and Jarman were still alive & making art.

R74 Oh, God. It was awful.

I can't wait to see what r74 posts.

Meanwhile, I barely remember the movie since it's been over 20 years since I've seen it. And though I may consider it an unwatchable mess if I saw it today, things were VERY different back then in terms of both media representations of gay people and AIDS. We were in a very different place with AIDS back then. It was pretty much the pinnacle of AIDS deaths with no hope in sight. Meanwhile, just about every AIDS movie was how difficult AIDS was for the straight people left behind. Wojnarowicz's vision was uncompromising and powerful even in a bad adaptation of his work.

For example, Longtime Companion is pretty crappy schmaltz in retrospect but it sure didn't seem that way at the time.

David was a genius.

Imagine David fucking you with his big cock.

R26, I love you

David Wojnarowicz has caught the age-old voice of the road, the voice of the traveller, the outcast... pick up his book and listen

....

Bump. There will be a major exhibition of David's work at the Whitney this summer.

Coincidentally, I was just reading a book called Lonely City, by Olivia Laing, and in it she examines loneliness through art, and specifically four artists, including Andy Warhol and David Wojnarowicz. I’m almost through the section about David’s life and work. His childhood and most of his life were absolutely brutal. He was homeless for years and was starving and filthy. It’s amazing to me that he had the wherewithal to create any art or find any success in life at all given the circumstances of his upbringing. He was indeed a genius.

A genius.

"In loving him, I saw men encouraging others to lay down their arms… In loving him, I saw great houses being erected that would soon slide into the waiting and stirring seas. I saw him freeing me from the silences of the interior life."

<3!!

Literally, who?! Yawn. Next.

R36 Stalker.

I read Cynthia Carr's biography of Wojnatowiz, Fire in the Belly, this year. Profoundly moving and informative.

R38 Me too! And I agree.

I know this is an old thread but I love David Wojnarowicz's writings, memoirs, and I watched the film postcards from America twice.

David's HIV/AIDS activism is still needed today in 2019. I wonder if he would be for or against PREP? I know he would not like the conformity of the LGBT community.

David would cruise the Bijou gay porn theatre 100 3rd Avenue, New York, NY 10003 during the early to late 1980s, right ?/ Can any DL member confirm this/

I remember seeing him many times, and slowly putting together he was the dude who had the art career going..... his fame was gradual, and really only within the lower east side .f

Thanks in advance.