The exhibition 'Peter Hujar: Eyes Open in the Dark,' co-curated by Gary Schneider and John Douglas Miller, presents a comprehensive view of Hujar's later photography. Renowned for his intimate portraits of friends and downtown figures, Hujar's work gained newfound recognition posthumously, especially concerning the emotional weight of his depictions amid the AIDS crisis. His transition towards a darker tone in the early 1980s reflects the tragic and pressing realities of his community. The show has garnered praise from major publications and runs at Raven Row, London until April 6.
Hujar was a central figure in the downtown scene of 1970s and early 1980s New York, but at his death in 1987 from Aids-related pneumonia his work was largely unknown to a broader art world.
The exhibition also reveals the darkening tone of Hujar's photography in the early 1980s, as the Aids crisis devastated his community, and his work entered into dialogue with the younger artist David Wojnarowicz.
John Douglas Miller writes: This is such a Romantic image and one of only two early works in the Raven Row exhibition. Peter Hujar made a trip to Florida with the painter Joe Raffaele.
Hujar was interested in the motif of the veil throughout his work, whether the veil was literal, as is the case here, or achieved through tonal work in the darkroom.
Collection
[
|
...
]