the art of AIDS
Click portrait to access the interview
Thomas Sokolowski
Throughout his career, Tom Sokolowski has demonstrated a passion for social justice and was actively engaged in the cultural and artistic response to AIDS that emerged in North America in the 1980s. Whilst Director of the Grey Art Gallery, he and Robert Atkins curated the From Media to Metaphor: Art About AIDS exhibition, which toured ten cities in the United States and Canada during 1992-94. He was a founding member of Visual AIDS and oversaw the development of Day Without Art and the Red Ribbon Project. He speaks about these roles and projects in an interview with Paul Sendziuk, which can be accessed by clicking on his portrait.
With a BA in art history from the University of Chicago and a MA and PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, Tom Sokolowski has performed roles in a number of prominent museums and galleries, including as Curator of European Painting and Sculpture and then Chief Curator at The Chrysler Museum (1981-1984), Director of the Grey Art Gallery & Study Center at New York University (1984-1996), and most recently as Director of the Warhol Museum from 1996 to 2010.
'Tale of 1000 Condoms / Geisha & Skeleton', and sumi ink on canvas, 133" x 83", 1989. Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art. Museum.
'Self-Portrait (with Skull Cane)', gelatin silver print, 24" x 20", 1988.
'Scum', plastic, medical supplies and framed text, 96" x 72" x 6", 1989.
'Tale of 1000 Condoms / Geisha & Skeleton', and sumi ink on canvas, 133" x 83", 1989. Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art. Museum.