The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

Visual AIDS

Location
New York, NY
Grant Cycle
Fall 2018
Amount
$80,000
Type of Grant
Multi-year Program Support

Visual AIDS was established in 1988 to preserve the legacies of artists lost to AIDS, to center the voices of those living with HIV, and to create dialogue and scholarship around HIV/AIDS both historically and today. Through exhibitions, public events and especially publications, Visual AIDS champions the work of underrecognized artists affected by the disease, insuring that their contributions to contemporary art discourse are not only preserved but are actively engaged by new generations of scholars and artists. As long-term HIV survivors, friends, allies, activists and families continue to age, there is an increased urgency to document stories and histories now. Beginning in 2018 Visual AIDS published an important series of books that approach this task from complementary angles.


Darrel Ellis, Self-portrait after photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe, c. 1989 Painting on canvas, 60 x 42 in. Courtesy of the estate of Darrel Ellis. Photo: Christopher Burke Studios
Darrel Ellis, Untitled (from Thomas Ellis photograph of child’s birthday party), c. 1990 Gelatin silver print, 25 x 29 in. Courtesy of the estate of Darrel Ellis. Photo: Christopher Burke Studios
Kay Rosen, AIDS ON GOING GOING ON, 2013, projected on the facade of the Guggenheim Museum for Visual AIDS’ Day With(out) Art 2015. Photo: Elliot Luscombe
ACT UP, Installation view of Let the Record Show…, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, 1987. Courtesy of Gran Fury
ACT UP, Installation view of Let the Record Show…, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, 1987. Courtesy of Gran Fury
Frederick Weston, Self Portrait, 1979, Dot matrix print, tape, 14 1/8 x 10 3/4 in; courtesy Gordon Robichaux, NY, photo: Gregory Carideo

See Also

1964

Philip Johnson commissioned Warhol to make a large-scale work for the exterior for his pavilion for the New York World’s Fair, along with other artists. Warhol’s provocative response, a multiple portrait of ‘Most Wanted Men’ was installed a few days before the opening but was deems too inflammatory and contrary to the upbeat image of the World’s Fair and the work was taken down.