The natural beauty of Cape Cod, Massachusetts has long attracted venerable East Coast families to summer on its shores, but it is the enclave of Provincetown on the peninsula that is known for its history as a haven for artists, intellectuals and the LGBTQ+ community.
Paying homage to both sides of the island’s heritage is a captivating exhibition of works by the artist David Wojnarowicz, titled ‘Tidal Motion’. Staged in a new project space in Provincetown run by the art dealer Joe Sheftel, who curated the show together with New York’s PPOW Gallery, the first-ever solo presentation of Wojnarowicz’s paintings, collages, stencils and photographs in Provincetown symbolically marks the 40th anniversary of when the first HIV cases were reported. Wojnarowicz succumbed to the disease in 1992, aged 37.
Exhibition curator Joe Sheftel outside his project space in historic Provincetown, MA
Although Wojnarowicz’s work has been well-exhibited in the past, Sheftel and PPOW’s Wendy Olsoff have fostered a unique dialogue by presenting his work and alongside that of contemporary artists, such as Leilah Babirye, rafa esparza, Oscar yi Hou and Cheyenne Julien amongst others. The contemporary works will be introduced and rotated weekly, thus creating a thought-provoking cadence for the show’s duration.
‘David Wojnarowicz is one of the artists who inspired me to become involved with art,’ shares Sheftel. ‘Seeing his work in my 20s opened up ideas to me of what was possible both visually and politically; how art can function as a vehicle for change. Wojnarowicz has such a venerated position in the art world that I became interested in exploring how his legacy continues to influence younger generations of artists. I had numerous conversations with Wendy about which younger artists are inspiring us right now, who we are looking at, and how a different generation is addressing some of the same themes of governmental indifference, the power of community, the relationship between individuals and the natural environment, and making art that reflects those concerns today.’
Installation views of the exhibition David Wojnarowicz ’Tidal Motion’
Water is a recurring feature in Wojnarowicz’s work. Throughout his life and practice, he often returned to lakes, rivers and oceans as a means of escaping his so-called ‘pre-invented existence’. In the artist’s work, the theme of water is often linked to dreams and myths of emergence, in which the protagonist ascends to metamorphosis after submergence in a deep abyss.
Sheftel says: ‘There is an attention given to Wojnarowicz’s connection to the natural environment and the importance of water and nature as an escape from the continual pressures and regulations of existence.’ Whether representing purification, a comforting oblivion, or merging birth, death, sex, solitude, movement, heaven or hell, Wojnarowicz’s work dives into ‘the continual rippling waters, the indigo that claims it all,’ as he once put it.
Installation view featuring Nash Glynn, Untitled, 2021
David Wojnarowicz, Untitled (Burning House), 1982, and Untitled (eye w/ ants) from the Ant series, 1988-89
Installation view, David Wojnarowicz, From the Four Elements, 1990 A – Earth and Wind: 9-color lithograph B – Fire and Water: 10-color lithograph
David Wojnarowicz, Jean Genet Masturbating in Metteray Prison, 1983
INFORMATION
’Tital Motion’, until 31 August, Provincetown, MA. ppowgallery.com
ADDRESS
445 Commercial St
Provincetown, MA 02657
-
Meet Studio Knight Stokoe, the landscape architects guided by ‘resilience, regeneration and empathy’Boutique and agile, Studio Knight Stokoe crafts elegant landscapes from its base in the southwest of England – including a revived brutalist garden
-
Flat-out brilliance: three Dutch houses that celebrate the horizontalThese three Dutch houses, built between the 1980s and the 2020s, blend seamlessly into the flat landscapes of the low country
-
What are biomaterials? Everything you need to know about Mother Nature's building blocksCould the cities of the future be grown from plants, bacteria and fungi? Architects explain
-
The best Ruth Asawa exhibition is actually on the streets of San FranciscoThe artist, now the subject of a major retrospective at SFMOMA, designed many public sculptures scattered across the Bay Area – you just have to know where to look
-
Orlando Museum of Art wants to showcase more Latin American and Hispanic artists. Do you fit the bill?The Florida gallery calls for for Hispanic and Latin American artists to submit their work for an ongoing exhibition
-
The spread of Butter: the Black-owned art fair where artists see all the profitsThe Indianapolis-based art fair is known for bringing Black art to the forefront. As it ventures out of state to make its Los Angeles debut, we speak with founders Mali and Alan Bacon to find out more
-
Steve Martin wants you to visit The Frick CollectionThe actor has appeared in a video promoting New York’s newly renovated art museum
-
Rolf Sachs’ largest exhibition to date, ‘Be-rühren’, is a playful study of touchA collection of over 150 of Rolf Sachs’ works speaks to his preoccupation with transforming everyday objects to create art that is sensory – both emotionally and physically
-
Architect Erin Besler is reframing the American tradition of barn raisingAt Art Omi sculpture and architecture park, NY, Besler turns barn raising into an inclusive project that challenges conventional notions of architecture
-
The dynamic young gallerists reinvigorating America's art scene'Hugging has replaced air kissing' in this new wave of galleries with craft and community at their core
-
Meet the New York-based artists destabilising the boundaries of societyA new show in London presents seven young New York-based artists who are pushing against the borders between refined aesthetics and primal materiality
