Jimmy DeSana

(1949, Detroit–1990, New York)

Coat Hanger, 1980
Pigment print, 58.4 x 38.1 cm
Courtesy of the Estate of Jimmy DeSana and Salon 94, New York

The level of creativity in 1980s New York was comparable to that of Berlin in the 1920s. Another similarity is that the background for such daring experiments was an impending catastrophe: Nazism in Germany and the AIDS epidemic in the USA. President Ronald Reagan offered America’s wealthiest citizens low taxes and supported ultra-conservative policies. As a result, American cities were increasingly split into zones inhabited by the poor and “golden miles” for the rich. New York responded by activating minorities and subcultures, as well as by a dramatic expansion in the art sphere, which included limitless admiration for the consumer society (Jeff Koons) and sophisticated aestheticism (Robert Mapplethorpe). During his lifetime, photographer Jimmy DeSana almost never exhibited his works and only published one book, although it included a preface by legendary beatnik William Burroughs. DeSana experimented with photography as well as with his own sexuality, complementing staged compositions with elements of sado-masochistic games. Unlike Mapplethorpe, DeSana often introduced irony and grotesque into his erotic pictures. Coat Hanger is probably the purest and the most concise example of his approach. According to the artist, female and male natures become aware of their differences through dress codes symbolized by a banal coat hanger. Here, nudity is understood as the paradisal innocence of the Old Testament and the coat hanger is a stand-in for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This image perfectly summarizes 1980s New York’s state of constant disguise and transgression, even if only within the narrow framework of the bohemian carnival of identities.