Arts Bombast: David Wojnarowicz’ Rimbaud in New York Series
Why do all the cool New York artists (see: Ginsburg, Patti Smith, and Wojnarowicz) love Rimbaud so much? Oh, that’s right, because he’s the shit. Below, a couple violent verses for you from Mes petites amoureuses:
Vos omoplates se déboîtent,
Ô mes amours!
Une étoile à vos reins qui boitent,
Tournez vos tours!
Et c’est pourtant pour ces éclanches
Que j’ai rimé!
Je voudrais vous casser les hanches
D’avoir aimé!
David Wojnarowicz was an experimental photographer, painter, writer and filmmaker in NY during the ’80s. He was also in a weird/fantastic band called 3 Teens Kill 4. Wojnarowicz related to Arthur Rimbaud in many ways- as a poet, an outcast, a queer man, and ultimately, as an artist who died too young. This series of photos is some of Wojnarowicz’ earliest works, and it features someone (himself? a friend? many people?) rocking Rimbaud masks, thus transferring that identity to anonymous men in urban, seedy, late ’70s NYC. Enjoy:
RIP.
Ribbon Around A Bomb 