Peter Hujar

Born 1934 in Trenton (New Jersey), USA
Departed 1987 im Westchester County, USA
 

Hujar's works recall the photographic language of Diane Arbus; his pictures have the same existential tone but extend a cynical, perverse look on mankind. His works are sublime, dark and hazy but loving and touching in a way that is characteristic of certain strands in vintage photography like Strand and Stieglitz. His legendary book "Portraits in Life and Death" is a unique achievement, bringing together scenes of melancholy and beauty, sadness and hope in a single bound collection. Another wonderful publication, "Animals and Nudes", juxtaposes forms in a disarming, down-to-earth way that belies his impressive technical and compositional skills. The animals are human in the plight of their everyday existence, and the humans animal-like, reduced as they are to a pre-societal state. Photographs are seen here for what they basically are: mechanically produced works on paper, which accounts perhaps for the derisive attitudes to photography as stand-alone art medium in the past.
EXHIBITIONS:
26.04. – 03.06.2007
"Conceptual Paper"
Group exhibition with works by Vito Acconci, Richard Artschwager, Chris Burden, Zaha Hadid, Peter Hujar, Yayoi Kusama, Dennis Oppenheim, William Pope.L, Paul Thek
at Arndt & Partner, Zurich