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Untitled (Burning Man)

Artist/Maker (American, 1954–1992)
Date1983
MediumAcrylic and collaged map on masonite
DimensionsFrame: 51 1/2 × 51 1/2 in. (130.8 × 130.8 cm)
Credit LineCarl Read Gerber Contemporary Art Fund, Oberlin Friends of Art Fund, and Ruth C. Roush Contemporary Art Fund
Object number1998.14
Status
On view
Copyright© Estate of David WojnarowiczMore Information
Responding to the poverty, sex work, and drug use that Wojnarowicz experienced firsthand, his work exposes systems of power and oppression. Paper money, hospital patients, syringes, bomber planes, and animal carcasses recur in his oeuvre. He was an outspoken critic of New York City’s Cardinal O’Connor for disregarding AIDS, and incorporated crucifixes and burning figures into compositions such as this one.

Wojnarowicz also used fragments of maps in his collages, writing, "By ripping the map into pieces I’ve suddenly erased all these borders and I’ve completely joined opposing governments. It’s a metaphor for a sense of groundlessness and anarchy: No more governments no more borders."
Exhibition History
Fever: The Art of David Wojnarowicz
  • New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (January 21, 1999 - June 24, 1999 )
Acquisitions in Contemporary Art
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (September 25, 2001 - January 13, 2002 )
Queering the Museum
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (April 15, 2004 - June 6, 2004 )
The Body, The Host: HIV / AIDS and Christianity
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (January 20, 2024 - December 15, 2024 )
Collections
  • Modern & Contemporary
  • On View