Mark Morrisroe (January 10, 1959 – July 24, 1989) was an American

performance artist Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

and

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

. He is known for his performances and photographs, which were germane in the development of the

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

scene in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

in the 1970s and the art world boom of the mid- to late 1980s in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. By the time of his death he had created some 2,000 pieces of work.Adams, Brooks. (March 2011). "Beautiful, Dangerous People". ''Art in America'', pp. 127-128; ISSN 0004-3214

Life and career

Born to a drug-addicted mother in

Malden, Massachusetts Malden is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 66,263 people. History Malden, a hilly woodland area north of the Mystic River, was settled by Puritans in 1640 on la ...

, Morrisroe left home and began

hustling Hustling is the deceptive act of disguising one's skill in a sport or game with the intent of luring someone of probably lesser skill into gambling (or gambling for higher than current stakes) with the hustler, as a form of both a confidence tri ...

under the name Mark Dirt at the age of 15. His mother was a tenant of

Albert DeSalvo Albert Henry DeSalvo (September 3, 1931 – November 25, 1973) was an American rapist and suspected serial killer in Boston, Massachusetts, who purportedly confessed to being the "Boston Strangler," the murderer of thirteen women in the Boston ...

, who would become known as "the

Boston Strangler The Boston Strangler is the name given to the murderer of 13 women in the Boston, Massachusetts, area during the early 1960s. The crimes were attributed to Albert DeSalvo based on his confession, details revealed in court during a separate case, ...

", and Mark often told people he was DeSalvo's illegitimate son. When he was 17 years old, a disgruntled client shot him in the back, leaving him with a bullet lodged next to his spine for the rest of his life. The experience had a profound influence on his art, which often incorporated images of young prostitutes and

X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

s of his injured chest. He attended the

School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is the art school of Tufts University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusett ...

, where he made friends with several soon-to-be-well-known artists, including

Nan Goldin Nancy Goldin (born September 12, 1953) is an American photographer and activist. Her work often explores LGBT subcultures, moments of intimacy, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the opioid epidemic. Her most notable work is '' The Ballad of Sexual Depe ...

,Matt McCann
"Multiple Exposure: Mark Morrisroe"
The New York Times Style Magazine, March 10, 2011. David Armstrong,

Philip-Lorca diCorcia Philip-Lorca diCorcia (born 1951) is an American photographer, living in New York City. He teaches at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.Release: David Zwirner - Philip-Lorca diCorcia: ''Thousand'' (February 27 - March 28, 2009). Retrieved ...

, Stephen Tashjian (aka

Tabboo! Stephen Tashjian (born 1959) is an American artist. His drag queen character Tabboo! became known in the East Village underground scene of New York City in the 1980s. He is also a puppeteer, painter, and singer. Biography Stephen Tashjian was ...

, with whom he founded the drag duo "Clam Twins" at the Pyramid Club in NYC's East Village),

Gail Thacker Gail Thacker is a visual artist most known for her use of type 665 Polaroid positive/negative film in which her subjects — friends, lovers, the city — become intertwined with the process and chemistry of her photos. She attended the School of ...

and Pat Hearn. His boyfriend in

was Johnathan Pierson, who later changed his name to

Jack Pierson Jack Pierson (born 1960 in Plymouth, Massachusetts) is a photographer and an artist. Pierson is known for his photographs, collages, word sculptures, installations, drawings and artists books. His "Self-Portrait" series was shown in the 2004 Whit ...

. He graduated from the Museum School with honors receiving the coveted "5th" Year" Award. While attending, he performed as a drag character of his own creation, Sweet Raspberry, and co-founded a

zine A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to writ ...

called ''Dirt Magazine'' with his friend Lynelle White, distributing it in Boston nightclubs. This zine was composed of fake news and gossip about celebrities, bands and other famous people, mostly from Boston. His career as a photographer began when he was given a

Polaroid Polaroid may refer to: * Polaroid Corporation, an American company known for its instant film and cameras * Polaroid camera, a brand of instant camera formerly produced by Polaroid Corporation * Polaroid film, instant film, and photographs * Polar ...

Model 195

Land Camera The Land Camera is a model of self-developing film camera manufactured by Polaroid between 1948 and 1983. It is named after their inventor, the American scientist Edwin Land, who developed a process for self-developing photography between 194 ...

. He experimented with unusual development techniques, receiving generous support of supplies, film, and chemicals from the Polaroid Corporation. Within his close circle of friends he soon laid claim to the "invention" of what are called "sandwich" prints—enlargements of double negatives of the same subject mounted on top of one another—which yielded an elaborate pictorial quality, producing a very iconic painterly impression in the final result, which over time he learned to use in an increasingly controlled way. Early on, the artist recognized the intrinsic value of prints—irrespective of the medium used to produce them—as pictorial objects that he could manipulate, color, paint and write on at will. Thus, Morrisroe scrawled comments, biographical notes and dedications on the side of his pictures, which made them very personal pieces of art. His photographs were mostly

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

s, and his subjects included lovers, friends, hustlers, and people who visited his apartment. He also often incorporated stills from

Super 8 film Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format. The film is nominally 8 mm wide, the same as older formatted ...

s. There are a few photographs which incorporate landscapes and external shots.

Death

Morrisroe died on July 24, 1989, aged 30, in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.McMinnville, Oregon McMinnville is the county seat of and largest city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. The city is named after McMinnville, Tennessee. As of the 2019 census, the city had a population estimate of 34,743. McMinnville is at the confluence of ...

on the farm of his last boyfriend, Ramsey McPhillips. He is considered a member of the Boston School of Photography and his work is found in many important collections including that of the Whitney and MOCA of Los Angeles. The estate of Mark Morrisroe (Collection Ringier) is currently located at the

Fotomuseum Winterthur Fotomuseum Winterthur is a museum of photography in Winterthur, Switzerland. History The museum was founded in 1993 and is dedicated to photography as art form and document, and as a representation of reality. Fotomuseum Winterthur is an art g ...

Legacy

After his death, he was the center of the survey exhibition at ICA Boston 1995 (curated by Lia Gangitano). Solo exhibitions of his work have included ''Mark Morrisroe, 1959-1989'',

Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst The New Society for Visual Arts (Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst or nGbK) is a German art association, which was established in 1969. It is headquartered in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg, Germany. History The New Society for Visual Arts w ...

, Berlin, and ''My Life: Mark Morrisroe, Polaroids 1977-1989'', MOCA, Los Angeles (both 1997).

Filmography

Between 1981 and 1984, he shot three low-budget movies on

: ''The Laziest Girl in Town'' (1981), ''Hello from Bertha'' (1983) and ''Nymph-O-Maniac'' (1984). These films were reportedly influenced by such directors as

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

and Jack Smith.

Exhibitions

"His work was exhibited by Pat Hearn Gallery from 1985 onward, including solo exhibitions in 1986 and 1988, His photographs have been included in two group shows at Artists Space: Split Vision, in 1985 (curated by Robert Mapplethorpe): and Witnesses: Against Our Vanishing, 1989 (curated by

). * Mark Morrisroe: From This Moment On: Artists' Space 2011. * 2010

, Winterthur, Switzerland * 2011 Mark Morrisroe: From This Moment On: Artists Space, New York. Curated by Richard Birkett and Stefan Kalmar). * 2012 Mark Morrisroe. Museum Villa Stuck, Munich. * 2014 Mark Morrisroe (1959-1989): Hello from Bertha, ClampArt, New York * 2016 Mark Morrisroe. Photos from NYC and Boston from 1982 to 1985. Alexander and Bonin gallery. New York. * 2018 Mark Morrisroe (1959-1989): Boy Next Door (Beautiful but Dumb), ClampArt, New York

Publications

* Mark Morrisroe: ''Journal of Contemporary Art'', Distributed Art Publishers, 1996 * ''Boston School'', Boston Institute of Contemporary Art, 1996 * Mark Morrisroe: ''My Life'', Power House Books, 1997 * ''Emotions & Relations: Nan Goldin, David Armstrong, Mark Morrisroe, Jack Pierson, Philip-Lorca Dicorcia'', Taschen, 1998 * ''Mark Morrisroe'', Twin Palms, 1999 * ''Der subjektive Blick in den Fotografien der "Boston School". David Armstrong - Philip-Lorca diCorcia - Nan Goldin - Mark Morrisroe - Jack Pierson - Shellburne Thurber'', Tectum Verlag, 2008 * ''Mark Morrisroe'', JRP, Ringier, 2011 * "Mark Morrisroe: Memento Mori / A Photographic Memoir by Megan "Montana" Smith, Blurb, 2012. * ''Mark Morrisroe: Mark Dirt'', Paper Chase Press, 2012 * ''It's all the same, you're queer anyhow! Les films de Mark Morrisroe'', Yann Beauvais, * ''There Was a Sense of Family: The Friends of Mark Morrisroe'', Verlag für moderne Kunst, 2012 * ''Changing Difference: Queer Politics and Shifting Identities:

Peter Hujar Peter Hujar (October 11, 1934 – November 26, 1987) was an American photographer best known for his black and white portraits. He has been recognized posthumously as a major American photographer of the late-twentieth century. Yet Hujar's work r ...

, Mark Morrisroe, Jack Smith'', Silvana Editoriale, 2013 * ''Screaming in the Streets: AIDS, Art, Activism'', ClampArt and Ward 5B, 2017

References

External links

Mark Morrisroe Monographs and Books
artbook.com; accessed April 13, 2015.
Morrisroe Artnet profile

Morrisroe ClampArt profile Dirt Magazine profile
* Series of photos (se

ttp://www.stylemag-online.net/2011/05/17/mark-morrisroe-outlaw-on-the-spot br>Visual AIDS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrisroe, Mark 1959 births 1989 deaths 20th-century American photographers American performance artists American portrait photographers Gay artists LGBT photographers from the United States LGBT people from Massachusetts Artists from Boston AIDS-related deaths in New Jersey Punk people 20th-century LGBT people