1980s New York was tragic, gritty, and electrified by artists who brought their art into the street.
1980–today
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How did Lucian Freud present queer and marginalized bodies?
Art historian Gregory Salter considers Freud’s paintings of queer and marginalized bodies in the age of Section 28, the early years of HIV/AIDS, and preoccupations about class and gender.
David Wojnarowicz, Untitled (One Day This Kid . . .)
Having the young Wojnarowicz’s face disseminated as a visible queer child was a potent political symbol.
Pepón Osorio, Badge of Honor
Pepón Osorio's installation illuminates the experience of a father and son separated by incarceration.
Masami Teraoka, American Kabuki
Teraoka draws on Japan's brilliant history of art and kabuki theatre to creating beauty from heart-rending tragedy.
Keith Haring, Subway Drawings
Haring’s subway drawings were born from his desire to create art that was accessible for everyone.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Horn Players
Basquiat appropriated wildly—and creatively—from Old Masters, Picasso, anatomical textbooks, and even jazz.
Pepón Osorio, En la barberia no se llora (No Crying Allowed in the Barbershop)
Osorio’s art explores the experience of being Latin American in New York City.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled” (billboard of an empty bed)
Gonzalez-Torres evokes absent bodies in his works, which bring gay identity and the AIDS crisis into public view.
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