Peter Hujar, Maureen Paley

This new Peter Hujar exhibition at Maureen Paley Gallery, Bethnal Green, showcases the unique eye into sub-cultural milieu of this under-appreciated artist

Who is Peter Hujar?

Mention the name Peter Hujar to most photography aficionados and you’re likely to draw a blank. Yet, this New York artist is probably one of the twentieth century’s most talented and unsung photographers. Marginalised by his art world contemporaries for being volatile, Hujar’s work influenced photographers such Nan Goldin and Robert Mappelthorpe. In recent years, Hujar’s photographs have been increasingly exhibited. Later this month, Maureen Paley is hosting a solo exhibition.

His work

Raw, visceral and infused with soulfulness, Hujar’s black and white photographs document the vibrant subcultural scene of 1970s and 1980s New York, a world in which he was part of, until his untimely death in 1987. Evident in thiss exhibition is Hujar’s preoccupation with mortality. He captures his subjects with an unflinchingly honesty, yet there is beauty in the brutal everyday, and a compassion for strange, discombobulated lives of his subjects. 

A window into an era

The exhibition take us back to a demi-monde New York colonised by hustlers, addicts, artists and drag performers. A beautiful documentation of a fascinating world long gone – and one not to be missed.