“Blow Both Of Us”, (1978/1986). Image: © Estate of Mark Morrisroe (Ringier Collection) at Fotomuseum Winterthur, Blow Both of Us, Gail Thacker and Me, Summer, 1978/1986, Vintage chromogenic print (negative sandwich), Courtesy of ClampArt, New York City
At the tender age of 30, American artist Mark Morrisroe died from complications due to Aids. The year was 1989 and by then the virus had claimed over 27,400 lives in its first decade. The loss was irreplaceable.
.
Morrisroe was the unofficial leader of The Boston School, a group of artists including Nan Goldin, David Armstrong, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Tabboo!, and Gail Thacker who attended either the School of the Museum of Fine Arts or Massachusetts College of Art between 1971 and 1984. Here, he helped kindle the nascent punk scene while also acting as a catalyst in bringing autobiographical photography to the forefront of the art world.
.
Morrisroe was an enigmatic figure whose diaristic artwork was fuelled by his notoriously radical persona. A teenage prostitute raised by an alcoholic mother, he walked with a cane and a pronounced limp due to a bullet lodged deep within his chest, a wound inflicted while in high school when he was shot by a john. The artist turned to photography to mediate his experiences of life. Working in Polaroids, he embraced the immediacy of the moment transformed into an object that could be manipulated at will. Morrisroe forsook the sanctity of the print in favour of engaging with a mixed-media approach, presciently prefiguring so much of the digital culture in which we currently live.
.
Yet his premature death has relegated his work to the shadows, making him one of the least-known figures of his time. For more than a decade, gallerist Brian Clamp has exhibited Morrisroe’s art, working tirelessly to restore his rightful place in the art world. In conjunction with the February 1 opening of Mark Morrisroe (1959-1989): Boy Next Door (Beautiful but Dumb) at ClampArt, New York, Clamp shares the details of Morrisroe’s spectacular life and the ways in which his personal experiences fuelled the creation of his art.
.
.
“Hello From Bertha”, (1983). Image: © Estate of Mark Morrisroe (Ringier Collection) at Fotomuseum Winterthur, Hello From Bertha, 1983, Vintage chromogenic print (negative sandwich) retouched with ink, Courtesy of ClampArt, New York City