Cynthia Carr - Fire in the Belly: The Life and Times of David Wojnarowicz

Our Town:
A Heartland Lynching, a Haunted Town,
and the Hidden History of White America

On Edge:
Performance at the End of the
Twentieth Century (as C. Carr)

Untitled, 1981. Black-and-white photograph and spray paint on wood, 11 19 inches. (Private collection) The dog mask and stencils here are characteristic of Davids early work: the burning house, the military planes, the figure with one arm up as if warding off a blow.

Untitled (Green Head), 1982. Acrylic on masonite, 48 96 inches. (Private collection) This painting, created mostly from stencils, is the first David ever exhibited. He went on to use the Hujar stencil in many other pieces from this period.

The gagging cow drawn on the wall of the Ward Line Pier, 198283. (Photograph Andreas Sterzing)

Science Lesson, 198182. Spray paint and stencil on room mural, 96 168 inches. (Private collection)

Junk Diptych, 1982. Spray paint on masonite, 48 96 inches. (Private collection)

Peter Hujar Dreaming/Yukio Mishima: St. Sebastian, 1982. Acrylic and spray paint on masonite, 48 48 inches. (Private collection)

The deconstructed cartoon drawn on the wall of the Ward Line Pier, 1983. On the piece of wood attached to the wall, just right of the cartoon, David wrote: I prepared myself for this world the way one prepares a couch or bed for an expected lover. (Photo Andreas Sterzing)

Tuna, 1983. Acrylic and collage on supermarket poster, 40 30 inches. (Private collection)

Untitled (Pampers), 1984. Acrylic on poster, 44 32 inches. (Private collection)

Screaming Bird Lid, 1983. Acrylic on garbage can lid, 19 inches in diameter. (Private collection)

Fuck You Faggot Fucker, 1984. Black-and-white photographs, acrylic, and collage on masonite, 48 48 inches. (Private collection)

Fish Totem, 1983. Acrylic on found wood. (Private collection)

Davids work in 1985 was all about dead families and imperiled children. Top, a detail from Installation #5 at Art in the Anchorage. A blue skeleton (not visible) at the other end of the table is eating a baby. (Courtesy of the Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P.P.O.W Gallery, New York) Below, the dead family from the film You Killed Me First, a collaboration with Richard Kern installed at Ground Zero Gallery. (Photograph by Marion Scemama)

Some Things from Sleep: For Jane and Charley, 1986. Acrylic on masonite, 48 72 inches. (Private collection)

Dung Beetles II: Camouflage Leads to Destruction, 1986. Acrylic, spray paint, and collage on masonite, 67 80 inches. (Private collection)

Something from Sleep II, 198889. Acrylic and collage on canvas, 36 36 inches. (Private collection)

Water, 1987. Acrylic, ink, and collage on masonite, 72 96 inches. (Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York)

Wind (for Peter Hujar), 1987. Acrylic and collage on wood, 72 x 96 inches. (Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York)

Detail from Wind (for Peter Hujar), 1987. While David did many photographic self-portraits, this is the only one he ever did in paint.

Untitled (Hujar Dead), 198889. Acrylic and collage on masonite, 39 32 inches. (Private collection)

Two images from The Sex Series (for Marion Scemama). Both are Untitled, 1989. Gelatin-silver print, 16 20 inches. (Courtesy of P.P.O.W Gallery, New York)

Where Ill Go After Im Gone, 198889. Black-and-white photographs, acrylic, spray paint, and collage on masonite, 45 64 inches. (Private collection) Davids face appears at lower left.