AIDS
—- some of the most heartwrenching portraits of the AIDS epidemic
richard hofmann ART
Dreams and Reality Youth Running From Age F*ck Death Cleavland Rocks Homage to Peter 'Love Ya' - 1985
Last Kiss - 1985
AIDS - 1988
Beautiful men learn regret in a city of sin but their love is never the sin I love Sam - 1985
Gedalia - 1988
These Are The Feelings Between Us - 1987
Richard Hofmann's artwork embodies the raw emotional intensity and vibrant expression characteristic of the 1980s East Village neo-expressionist movement.
His pieces often reflect the socio-political turmoil of the era, particularly in their engagement with themes surrounding the AIDS crisis and LGBTQ identity. Hofmann's bold use of color and dynamic forms captivate viewers, drawing them into a dialogue about legacy, loss, and resilience. Each work serves as both a personal testament and a historical document.
Through his art, Hofmann not only challenges conventional aesthetic norms but also invites a deeper contemplation of the personal and collective struggles faced by the LGBTQ community during a pivotal time in history.
Richard Hofmann (1954-1994)
Painter AND AIDS ACTIVIST
RICHARD HOFMANN
PAINTER AND AIDS ACTIVIST
Self Portrait, 1995
Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1954, Richard’s unusual talents were evident early on, with his first watercolor show at the age of three.
Educated at George Washington University and later earning a BFA in Painting from the Pratt Institute, he was also the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 1989.
After moving to Avenue C in Alphabet City, Hofmann worked as an art installer and art assistant while continuing his own career as a fine artist.
A familiar figure in the East Village art scene for many years, Richard’s savage style of Neo-Expressionist figurative painting earned him a place among the “New Irascibles” showcased in Arts Magazine in 1985.
He worked in media such as film, sculpture, photo lithography, watercolors, collage charcoal and even clothing.
His murals decorated clubs over the years such as Club 57, The Pyramid Lounge, Danceteria, and the Roxy.
But his forte was oil painting, and it is in the large 9’x 15’ canvases that his technique is most evident and his message most revealing.
He was featured in solo shows at notable Lower East Side venues such as Limbo Gallery, ABC NO RIO, and the Steven Adams Gallery.
Hofmann participated in numerous group shows including "Pain and Pleasure" alongside Robert Mapplethorpe at Fashion Moda (1984), "Figures" at Green Street Gallery (1983) and "Famous and Infamous" (1983) at Gracie Mansion Gallery.
A ceaseless and prolific painter, the art of Richard Hofmann provides an unflinching window onto the tragic world of the young gay artist caught up in the AIDS epidemic which devastated New York just at the time as this unprecedented art scene was blossoming.
A contemporary and personal friend of David Wojnarowicz and many other artists who suffered the same fate, Hofmann’s work is a rare time-capsule of work whose bold colors and iconoclastic themes leap off the canvas perhaps even more today than back then.
His style has often been characterized as owing to the school of Neo-Expressionism, although his unique use of distorted figures and a multiplicity of baleful human faces is nowhere to be found except in his own work.
One critic noted that Hofmann “tackled the larger questions of sin and redemption, religion and homosexuality, suffering and ecstasy with fervid brushstrokes and layers of intense color.”