Peter Hujar seemed to know everyone interesting in New York in the 1970s and 1980s, and took pictures of most of them. For pride, Pace Gallery is opening an online exhibition of his photographs. “Peter Hujar: Cruising Utopia†is anchored by images of Hujar’s circle of artists, writers, and performers who mostly lived in the East Village, including portraits of his on-and-off again lover David Wojnarowicz, Susan Sontag, Greer Lankton, and Fran Lebowitz.
Stephen Koch, a close friend of the artist and the director of the Peter Hujar Archive, says Hujar, who died from complications of AIDS in 1987, gave him instructions on how to manage his reputation: “Peter Hujar kept insisting: ‘I want to be remembered as a photographer who was gay, and not as a gay photographer.’â€
In honor of Hujar’s legacy, Pace Gallery and the Peter Hujar Archive is donating 10 percent of sales from the show to the NYC AIDS Memorial. “Peter Hujar: Cruising Utopia†is open at Pace Gallery from June 30 to July 14.
