"When I see the art I've made
in the past, I feel as if
I'm reading my own biography.
At any age, with any diagnosis,
in any dress, it's a way
to mark the fact
that I've been here."
John Lesnick, 2000
John Lesnick
April 7, 1953 – March 1, 2003
After receiving his MFA in printmaking from Indiana University in 1990, and unsuccessful in his search for a teaching position in any major city, John returned to New York City, where he resided for 20 over years. Being HIV+, and having had one close friend die with AIDS in the Bloomington Hospital while he was in graduate school, he became aware that he needed to be in a major city with the latest and best AIDS drug trials, medical knowledge and treatment available.
During much of the 90's, John was dealing with his own health, and taking care of several close friends, and didn't really see much point in making art. He was too busy staying alive. However, somewhere late in 1996, he realized that he had survived lymphoma, MAC (and AIDS-related bacterial infection), and mycrosporidiosis, and he had been on the same path many of his friends had, of simply getting sicker and weaker, but in John's case, death didn't come. He had good doctors, health insurance to insure he could get the care he needed, there were new drugs, and he was faced with an even greater dilemma — life. After living with a terminal illness for over ten years, finding out he might get a reprieve (of how long, no one ever knows), was his biggest challenge ever. John said, “After all, when I decided to go to graduate school, something I had always dreamed of, but had constantly put off, I didn't even know whether I would live to see the end of the three year program.”
John returned to art gradually, taking classes and working at Greenwich House Pottery, with various instructors. This brought him back into a studio atmosphere, working alongside all levels of students, from beginners to professional artists. After about a year and half, he finally got my own computer, and translated what he used to do in the printshop into computer imagery.
John said,
“...I'm no longer sure how to portray what I've lived. But living in New York City, even when I'm not producing, I'm always runing around and looking at art. That was, after, the original reason for my moving here.”
In early April of 2003 we received a call from a lawyer who said he represented John Lesnick's estate and that he had left all his art to Leslie-Lohman and would we come retrieve it. We did not realize John had done this until that call.
It is a wonderful record of a life lived and we are pleased to present here a small sampling of his work.
| Future Icons, circa 1984 Portfolio of 12 screen prints, 22" x 15" each Images from "Future Icons, circa 1984," a series of twelve archetypal male portraits (see above), are in the print collection of both the Museum of Modern Art and the Brooklyn Museum. |
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| Leather Strap Mask, 1984
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Leather Mask, 1983 |
Metal Head Cage, 1983 |
Leather Gag, 1984 |
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| Athlete, 1984
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Motorcyclist, 1984 |
Mask and Snorkel, 1984
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Mummy, 1984 |
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| Walkman, 1984
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Construction Worker, 1984
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Business Man, 1984 |
Gas Mask, 1983 |
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| Thomas, 1986 Screen print, 100" x 38"
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Rick, 1985 Screen print, 100" x 38" |
Heriberto, 1986 Screen print, 100" x 38" |
Von, 1986 Screen print, 76" x 50" |
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| Restraint, 1988 Mixed media, 43" x 34"
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Pain III, 1988 Quik print, collograph 42" x 30" |
Narcissus, 1990 Screen printed fired clay, 7' x 5' |
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| Vernon, 1989 Low fire tiles and slabs, 2' x 8' x 1-1/2"
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Keith, 1984 Screen print, 88" x 72" |
