government Association called it ludicrous censorship, but the Liaison Committee of the Penn State Commission for Women said the female faculty found it difficult to appear professional when forced to lecture to a class with a picture of a female nude on the wall behind them. Four other paintings were taken down to avoid a debate over what should and should not be displayed, proving that censorship of Goya is still alive.David Wojnarowicz is recognized as one of the most potent voices of his generation, and his artistic achievements place him firmly within a long-standing American tradition of the artist as visionary, rebel and public figure. David Wojnarowiczs work emerged directly from his life. He knew little art history, had no artistic training in high school and he made a paint of not trolling the galleries to see what everyone else was doing. Exposed to unusual hardship as a boy, as a sexually active teen, and as a street person, he did not see his experiences reflected in the popular culture of the members of the dominant white, male, heterosexual, Christian, middle to upper class. Wojnarowicz's intention is explicitly ideological: his aim is to affect the world at large; he attempts to create imaginary weapons to resist established powers. Wojnarowicz creates provocative narratives and historical allegories dealing with themes of order and disorder, birth and death. using overlapping text, paint, collaged elements, and photography. His source materials include comics, science fiction, news, and mass advertising. Wojnarowicz developed a vocabulary of symbols that took on meaning through careful combinations that played off one another ironically and metaphorically. For example, symbols of the American dream are used as searing comments about American capitalism and violence, and advertisements are transformed into visions of horror, as in his supermarket ad series. Present in his art is a fusion of eroticism and death, a ...
