July 06, 2020

There is a fine line between fury and tenderness in the photography of American artistPeter Hujar, which captures New York between the gayliberation movement of the 60s and the Aidsepidemic of the 80s. Whether its hisimage of two leather daddies kissing, or of fellow artist and lover Paul Thek in masturbatory pleasure, the beautiful and the brutal coalesce in his compelling work.

Within the broadercontext of American image-making, Hujar defines an era that is bookended by Diane Arbus and Robert Mapplethorpe, according to Oliver Shultz, who has curated anonline exhibition of the artistsphotographyfor Pace Gallery. In Cruising Utopia,weare confronted withtwo Hujars: the studio photographerwho captured his community of revolutionaryfigures and Downtown vagabonds at his East Village loft; and the flaneurwho cruised the citys West Side, where sexual encounters took placeamid trucks and crumbling piers.

The shows first pairing demonstrates the duality of his practice. In Christopher Street #2 (Crossed Legs), 1976, a man sunbathing by the Hudson River inshort shorts unashamedly bares his legs, with a hazy detail of a ship on the backdrop. There is no dramatically lit studio, but Hujars voyeuristic gaze and the subjects grand gesture recall his performative shots of artists John Giorno or Ethyl Eichelberger. The adjacent photograph, Christopher Street #4,taken in the same year and location, fits multiple men into the frame each with searching eyes, some withnaked chests and confident attitudes. The same ship is visible, similarly on the pictures upper left corner. Hujar photographed moments of exchange, says Shultz, whether they were with strangers on the street or friends and lovers at his studio.

Until hisdeath in 1987 due to Aids-related illness, Hujars Second Avenue loft was frequented by his close friends such as Susan Sontag, Fran Lebowitz and Greer Lankton, all of whom posed for disarming solo portraits. The exhibition includes a young Lebowitz waking up from a sleep; while Lankton stares into the ceiling, almost ready to surrender to her dream-state. Hujars $167 monthly rent was not unheard of at a time when the East Village was a bustling hub for artists, and yet henever chased after wealth or commercial success Lebowitz allegedly said, Peter hung up on any curator interested in giving him a show, on her friends disinterest in mainstream recognition during his funeral.

A stroll down almost any street meant another encounter with some brightsomeone who was not yet a somebody, says Stephen Koch, the director of the Peter Hujar Archive. He had a turbulent relationship with a then-emerging David Wojnarowicz, a dynamic similar to that of Rimbaud and Verlaine. In a picture from 1981, Wojnarowiczs arresting expression is accentuated by a flirtatious cigarette in his mouth; his thin long face surrounded by shadows. Hujar was able to convey his subjectsas almost sculpturalWojnarowicz and others appear larger than life, similar to dwarfing Greco-Roman statues placed on tall pedestals or New York skyscrapers he photographed behind West Side parking lots.

Orgasmic Man, 1969,catches a youngmannamed Dutch Anderson inclimax (the work is part of a namesake series, currently exhibited in Barbicans Masculinities: Liberation Through Photographyshow). His right hand gently carries his tilted head; his eyes lids create pools of wrinkles around his eyes, tightly shut in pleasure. Theres a compelling, arresting ambiguity to the image you dont know whether youre looking at a scene of ecstasy or agony, or if youre witnessing or trespassing, explains the author Hanya Yanagihara about her decision to use the photograph for the cover of her seminal novel, A Little Life (2015). The posers anonymous expression blankets ample human emotions, from the darkest to the most joyous,similar to the books four protagonists, as well as anyone looking at a Hujar photograph.

Peter Hujar: Cruising Utopia is accessible on Pace GalleryswebsiteuntilJuly 28, 2020.Ten per cent of all proceeds from the exhibition will be donated to the New York City AIDS Memorial.

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Peter Hujar's Illicit Photographs of New York's Cruising Utopia - AnOther Magazine