Hunter Wayne Reynolds (July 30, 1959–June 12, 2022) was an American visual artist, and AIDS activist. He was known for his performance art and protest, and he was an early member of the AIDS activism group

ACT UP AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...

. In 1989, he co-founded ART + Positive. Charles Sanchez of '' POZ'' wrote "His work is profound, beautiful, at times startling and always ferociously honest."

Biography

Hunter Wayne Reynolds was born on July 30, 1959, in Rochester,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. His parents were Danielle (née Dusseau) and Robert Reynolds. Around 1966 his parents divorced and he moved to Florida, followed by a move to California. He attended

Otis College of Art and Design Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California, United States. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aero ...

(formerly Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design) and received a B.F.A. degree in 1984. After graduation he moved to New York City and founded ART + Positive, an

affinity group which protested for AIDS. Hunter Reynolds 2009 in Berlin

Around 1989 he was diagnosed with

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

. After his diagnosis he created a

drag Drag or The Drag may refer to: Places * Drag, Norway, a village in Tysfjord municipality, Nordland, Norway * ''Drág'', the Hungarian name for Dragu Commune in Sălaj County, Romania * Drag (Austin, Texas), the portion of Guadalupe Street a ...

persona "Patina du Prey", who wore full ball gowns. It was through this persona he worked as a performance artist for many years. In 2017, he was a

Guggenheim fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

. Reynolds died of

squamous cell carcinoma Squamous-cell carcinoma (SCC), also known as epidermoid carcinoma, comprises a number of different types of cancer that begin in squamous cells. These cells form on the surface of the skin, on the lining of hollow organs in the body, and on the ...

on June 12, 2022, in New York City, at the age of 62.

References

External links

Oral history interview with Hunter Reynold
Archives of American Art 1959 births 2022 deaths People from Rochester, Minnesota 21st-century American artists Members of ACT UP American LGBTQ artists Otis College of Art and Design alumni American activists Deaths from cancer in New York (state) {{US-artist-stub