Patrick Angus

Ulrike Groos, Tobias Bednarz, Patrick Angus, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart Staff

Patrick Angus (b. North Hollywood, 1953; d. New York, 1992) was the paintbrush-wielding chronicler of gay life in 1980s Manhattan. At a time when abstract and minimalist art reigned supreme, he chose to focus on figurative representational art. He painted and drew portraits, cityscapes, landscapes, and, time and again, scenes from the homosexual underground milieu with its strip shows, bars, and bathhouses. Yet rather than trying to make a political statement, Angus sought to articulate basic human needs, yearnings, and anxieties. His pictures are metaphors of the quest for his own identity and journey of sexual self-discovery. With their deft use of light and expressive palette, his compositions capture the unbridled hedonism of his subjects as well as the distinctive atmosphere of the settings in which they appear. His artistic role model was the California-based British painter...