Poet John Giorno & Bill's secretary Jim Grauerholz aghast at William Burroughs' whip-fast flexible blackjack draw from the hip. Bowery muggers and street junkies try to steal his wallet, watch out! Age 71 Burroughs returned from Lawrence, Kansas to his old "Bunker" loft (formerly a gym locker-room) with Place of Dead Roads mss. Scar on Giorno's belly (March 26, 1985) from cancer operation ten years earlier, he'd set up black cloth'd wall with stage-lights for his Buddhist rock & roll poetry rehearsals. A bunch of Queers me too.
1985
Artist, American, 1926 - 1997

Artwork overview
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Medium
gelatin silver print
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Credit Line
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Dimensions
image: 32 x 32 cm (12 5/8 x 12 5/8 in.)
sheet: 49 x 40.5 cm (19 5/16 x 15 15/16 in.) -
Accession
2008.131.12
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Allen Ginsberg Estate; Ellen and Gary Davis, Greenwich, CT (through Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York); gift to NGA, 2008.
Associated Names
Inscriptions
signed by artist, lower right on sheet in black ink: Allen Ginsberg; artist inscription, across bottom under image: Poet John Giorno & Bill's secretary Jim Grauerholz aghast at William Burroughs' whip-fast flexible blackjack draw from the hip. Bowery muggers and street junkies try to steal his wallet, watch out! Age 71 Burroughs returned from Lawrence, Kansas to his old "Bunker" loft (formerly a gym locker-room) with Place of Dead Roads mss. Scar on Giorno's belly (March 26, 1985) [inserted between the lines] from cancer operation ten years earlier, he'd set up black cloth'd wall with stage-lights for his Buddhist rock & roll poetry rehearsals. A bunch of Queers me too.; on verso, by unknown hand, lower center in graphite: GD-AG-77; lower right: 315/12,047 3/26/85 GDC-851