Portraits of the Artist
February 25, 2009, 7pm

Featuring a screening of Smalltown Boys and other shorts plus discussion with filmmaker Matt Wolf.

Smalltown Boys: The historical relationship between AIDS activist artist David Wojnarowicz and Sarah Rosenberg, a fictional teenage lesbian from New York's Upper West Side are imagined in this experimental documentary. The year is 1994 and as Sarah fights to save the television show My So-Called Life from cancellation, David has died amid the fury of culture wars and an aggressive AIDS activist movement. These overlapping biographies consider generational politics and the relevance of activism in contemporary America.

Portraits of the Artist is presented in conjunction with A New Deal, Art and Currency on view at BRIC Rotunda Gallery through March 7. A New Deal, curated by Baseera Khan, highlights relationships between American presidents and the economy, while observing how these relationships affect art-making. For better or worse, each president affects the course and stability of the economy, and likewise, the changing economy affects the stability and reputation of each president. Artists in this exhibition play within the space of literal and imagined artifacts of currency and alternative methods of exchange to push social protest and reconsider material value.