38

David Wojnarowicz

1954-1992

Untitled (ACT UP diptych), 1990

Each: Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Edition: 50/100 (there were also 10 artist's proofs)
One signed and dated in pencil in the lower margin, at right: David Wojnarowicz; one numbered in pencil in the lower margin, at left; ACT UP, New York, NY, pub.
Each Image: 18.5" H x 23.5" W; Each Sheet: 23.25" H x 27.5" W

  • Provenance:
    Private Collection, Michigan
    Sold: Artnet Auctions, November 15, 2018, Lot 126590
    Private Collection, California, acquired from the above
  • Notes:
    The work's two panels are intended to be displayed vertically with the figures swimming over the map of the United States.


    David Wojnarowicz completed this untitled diptych in 1990, just two years before his death from AIDS. It is one of fewer than ten editions he produced during his lifetime, created to raise money for ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), an organization founded to advocate for the rights and well-being of people living with AIDS.

    The upper panel features a photograph of a man lying on the ocean floor with another man floating above him, sourced from a Red Cross lifesaving manual. The overlaid text describes Wojnarowicz's anger at the AIDS crisis. This text, which previously appeared in a piece honoring his friend and mentor Peter Hujar who died of AIDS in 1987, reflects Wojnarowicz's experiences in Manhattan's East Village, where he witnessed the epidemic's devastating toll before he was diagnosed as HIV-positive.

    The lower panel features a USA-shaped target layered with stock market data. Some company names start with "K," aligning to spell "KKK and referencing the Ku Klux Klan, which led to anti-LGBTQ protests in the 1980s. Other companies whose names appear include pharmaceutical giants targeted by activists for their excessive pricing of AIDS medications.

    This diptych is also held in the collections of the British Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
  • Condition: Each overall good condition. With full margins and the colors good. The slightest and palest overmat staining along the outer margin edges, primarily visible in raking light. A few pale pea-sized (or smaller) foxmarks scattered in the lower margin of both the recto and verso. Occasional soft, handling marks scattered in the margin edges. The United States image with the slightest and most unobtrusive surface scuffs in the black background in the upper right quadrant. Each sheet is loose, and secured to the back mat with four clear archival corners.

    Each framed under Plexiglas: 25.25" H x 30.25" W x 1.5" D


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