Jimmy DeSana (1949-1990)

Jimmy DeSana is one of a generation of artist-photographers including Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin, and close friend Laurie Simmons, who came of age in 1970s New York City. In his lifetime, DeSana had over a dozen solo shows at Pat Hearn Gallery, Galerie Jablonka, and elsewhere. He was featured in over fifty group shows, including the seminal 1981 P.S.1 exhibition “New York/New Wave.” In recent years his work has been shown at Salon 94, the New Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, White Columns, Pioneer Works, and Steven Kasher Gallery. His monograph Submission (Scat Publications, 1979) is considered an essential photographic publication of the era. In 2015 Aperture published Jimmy DeSana: Suburban, with essays by Laurie Simmons and Elisabeth Sussman.