The works are both haunting and playful: a touching reminder that Wojnarowicz, who would go on to make some of the most striking protest art of the AIDS era before dying of complications from the disease, at age 37, was once just a kid who fanboyed over another artist.--Juan A. Ramirez "The New York Times: T List"

Wilson portrayed the gamut of the Black experience, making visible the sense of deep isolation, fear, and apprehension accompanying oppression and marginalization in the US, as well as pride, family, and community.--John Yau "Hyperallergic"

Certainly the Met show ... gives evidence that Wilson's confidence in his gifts as an artist were well-founded, and rewarded.--Holland Cotter "The New York Times"

The effacement that the mask of Rimbaud effects raises a host of questions: What does it mean to masquerade? Is it an act of cowardice, or a product of the closet? Does it enable a kind of truthfulness otherwise unavailable? One might recall Oscar Wilde's aphorism, 'Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.'--Nathalie Prizel "The Brooklyn Rail"

By reflecting and obscuring at once, Wojnarowicz reminds us how, in a world where governmental and corporate surveillance often blur into one another, we have to be innovative and unexpected in our resistance.--Lavinia Liang "Hyperallergic"

[The] book is a scholarly feat of the kind most galleries don't bother with these days: Bessa's insightful essay placing the series in conversation with artists from Vito Acconci to Sophie Calle; Nicholas Martin's deep look at what Rimbaud meant to downtown artists; smart contributions from writers including Vitale, Craig Dworkin, Fiona Anderson, and more. Most movingly, Marguerite Van Cook recalls conversations with [Wojnarowicz], which, unlike mine, happened in the earthly realm.--Dave O'Neill "4columns"

On the surface, there might not be much in common between Rimbaud's poetry and Wojnarowicz's intense, politically furious collages and graffiti, but Wojnarowicz casts the poet as an outsider like himself, unable to find a concrete place in a world that seems more than willing to turn its back on him. This imbues the series with a haunted feeling; the unmoving face of Rimbaud becomes uncanny, ripped out of time.--Sam Moore "AnOther Magazine"

Publisher: Skira

Pub date: 2025-10-28

Length: 208 pages