This image by David Wojnarowicz shows the extent to which Dada and Surrealism infused his art, providing a counterpoint to the frequently fiercely political content of his work. This photograph has a visual referent in a unique collage of a man’s suit with a sandwich for a head that Wojnarowicz included in Target Box, a suite of 33 photocopy collages. It is unknown at this writing whether the photograph or the collage was produced first. Another print of this photograph was included in the 2019 exhibition Photography & Film originating at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, and traveling to the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery in Vancouver.
Few artists embody the Lower East Side scene of the 1970s and 80s as viscerally or elegantly as David Wojnarowicz. Executed in a wide array of media and deployed in galleries, on the disintegrating walls of the West Side piers, and on sidewalks and streets, his work packs a visual punch that has remained undiminished over the years. His activism in the era of AIDS was underscored by his own battle with the disease. His friendship with Peter Hujar, one of the key documenters of the 1970s-80s New York City demimonde, exposed Wojnarowicz to a practice of photography that was more disciplined and rigorous than he had previously known, and his work in the medium is remarkably accomplished.