On the occasion of Monica Majoli’s solo exhibition Distant Lover 2009–2024, Majoli was invited to present thework of another artist that has had a lasting influence onher practice. In With: Tony Greene and Monica Majoli, theartist pays tribute to the ongoing inspiration of the workand life of Tony Greene (1955–1990):

Tony Greene, Amid Voluptuous Calm (c. 1988), installation view With: Tony
Greene and Monica Majoli, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen,
Düsseldorf, 2024, photo: Cedric Mussano

I first met Tony Greene six months after his death. Aghost, his reputation preceded him through storiesimbued with a palpable mourning of his many artistfriends I was introduced to in 1990 when I first began toexhibit my work in Los Angeles. In 1991, a year afterGreene died at the age of 35 from AIDS, an unforgettable memorial exhibition at Los Angeles ContemporaryExhibitions (LACE) titled Sweet Oleander: An Exhibitionof Works by Tony Greene, curated by artist Richard Hawkins, uncovered the artist’s mesmerizing paintings infull. Viewing them then—three primary examples fromthat exhibition are on display for the first time internationally at the Kunstverein Düsseldorf—it’s almost as ifGreene cast a spell. His work has held the power of influence over me ever since. When director Kathrin Bentelesuggested I curate a small exhibition to accompanymine, providing a context to understand my work,Greene immediately came to mind; his long lasting impact remains key. Specifically, Blueboys, a series Ibegan in the spring of 2015 (presented in large part inthe museum’s main gallery), follows the conclusion oftwo years of immersive attention focused on Greene’soeuvre. In the summer of 2014, artist Judie Bamber andI co-curated a comprehensive exhibition of Greene’swork for the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at theSchindler House in Los Angeles.

Tony Greene, Untitled (Matt) (1990), Untitled (Wes) (1990), installation view
With: Tony Greene and Monica Majoli, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und
Westfalen, Düsseldorf, 2024, photo: Cedric Mussano

Greene’s work comes out of a time in recent art history that was not only considering new subject positionsof desire but also at a time when those desires werebeing investigated in relation to the immediacy of theAIDS crisis. Unlike many gay artists at the time whoreacted to the epidemic by framing their work solely asactivism, he kept that dire reality present in his workwhile foregrounding passion as something ongoing andalive.

With: Tony Greene and Monica Majoli, installation view Kunstverein für die
Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, 2024, photo: Cedric Mussano

Photographic images from physique pictorials, natural history dioramas, and men’s mouths from gay pornact as a base for decorative arabesques and Rosicrucianlettering molded with Rhoplex and carefully layered withlapidary glazes. His paintings evoke an ever present past, removed and romanticized in images that elicitdesire viscerally yet remain encased in veils of paint,barricaded behind ornament and fleshy yarns of Rhoplex. Here, the mediated image of the body is sexualizedand made palpable through the paint itself, locked intoplace by the artist’s hand, recording his involvementalmost as if he were transcribing illuminated manuscripts. Curiously and poignantly, Greene manifests alonging for a past that was never known and a future thatwill never be.

Tony Greene (1955–1990) studied in Los Angeles,receiving his BFA from Otis College of Art and Design in1985 and his MFA from CalArts in 1987, and continuedto live and exhibit in Los Angeles and New York duringthe late 1980s and early 1990s. During this brief and artistically fertile period, he influenced and was influenced by a significant group of artists who went on to shape contemporary art, including Catherine Opie, Richard Hawkins, Lari Pittman, and Nayland Blake. His evocative paintings lived on in the homes of his intimates and artistic peers as a reminder of his friendship and continue his legacy as an artist and personality far beyond the intimate circle of artists who emerged in the mid-1980s in Los Angeles.