Wilkinson Gallery is pleased to announce its second exhibition by Jimmy De Sana (1950 – 1990). In 2008, Wilkinson exhibited his seminal photographic work 101 Nudes, which consisted of 56 half-tone reproductions of De Sana’s (seemingly) casually shot black-and-white photographs, originally created in 1972 when the artist was in his early twenties. The upcoming exhibition will include a selection of colour works from later in De Sana’s career, not shown since his final exhibition in New York with Pat Hearn Gallery in 1988.
De Sana’s work was influenced by Surrealism. He created unexpected juxtapositions between object ands bodies, limbs and torsos, often in a tinted glow of artificially coloured light. He printed all his own work and used his friends as models and was a member of a generation of artist-photographers known for making rather than simply taking pictures, taking Man Ray’s idea of creating the photographic image from scratch.
The two publications on De Sana’s work include, Submission, 1980, a project with William Burroughs who he met and photographed in New York. As one of his final projects, he made a limited edition publication with A.R.T. Press which included an interview with Laurie Simmons, who now runs his estate, and an essay by Roberta Smith.
Jimmy De Sana is currently included in the exhibition, Looking at Music: Side 2, curated by Barbara London at MOMA New York. Solo exhibitions include, White Columns, New York (2007), Galerie jablonka, Cologne (1989) and Pat Hearn Gallery, New York (1988, 1986). Group Shows include Erotophobia, Simon Watson Gallery, New York (1989), Staging The Self: photography 1840 -1985, National Portrait Gallery, London (1986), New York, New Wave, PS1, New York (1981) and Times Square Show, New York (1980).
