GUSTAVO OJEDA (September 8, 1958–August 23, 1989) was born in Havana, Cuba, and in 1967, he exiled with his family to Spain, and then to Virginia. At seventeen, he moved to New York City to attend Parsons School of Design, where he studied under William Clutz, among others. Upon graduation, he was awarded a CINTAS Fellowship for Cuban artists, which allowed him to travel back to Spain to paint. It was in Madrid that he began to experiment with urban nightscapes, a subject which predominated much of his work, and for which he is best known. After returning to New York, where he would spend the rest of his life, Ojeda became active in the East Village and SoHo art scenes, showing alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat, Bruno Ceccobelli, Tom Bianchi, Luis Frangella, Keith Haring, and David Wojnarowicz. He participated in numerous group exhibitions in New York, including, most notably, An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art and East Village Art in Berlin at Zellermayer Galerie, both in 1984; he also exhibited work at galleries in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Miami. During his decade-long career, Ojeda mounted solo shows at Seventeenth Street Gallery, Garet/Kohn Gallery, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center (on the heels of a studio fellowship), and David Beitzel Gallery, all in New York, as well as Michael Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles. Ojeda’s work received attention in publications such as Flash Art, Art in America, ARTNews, and the Los Angeles Times, as well as notice from critics Richard Pau-Llosa, Robert L. Pincus, and Michael Laurence, in addition to many others. In 1986, Ojeda was diagnosed with AIDS, and in 1989, he died from AIDS-related complications, just two weeks shy of his thirty-first birthday. Following Ojeda's death, there were several retrospectives of his work, including a memorial exhibition at David Beitzel Gallery in 1990. His paintings are currently held by many collections in the United States, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Jersey City Museum, among others. His papers and sketches are preserved by the New School Archives and Special Collections. A selection of his sketches was published in 2020 by Sobsercove press, under the title An Excess of Quiet: Selected Sketches by Gustavo Ojeda, 1979-1989, edited by Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué and Erich Kessel Jr.
Solo Exhibitions
“Nightscapes: A Memorial Exhibition,” David Beitzel Gallery, 1990
David Beitzel Gallery, New York, 1987
Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, 1986
Garet/Kohn Gallery, New York, 1983
“Night Paintings,” MoMA P.S.1, New York, 1982
“An Intimate Look,” Pan American Health Organization, Washington D.C., 1982
“Works from Spain 1980,” Seventeenth Street Gallery, New York, 1980
Selected Group Exhibitions
“AIDS at The New School: What is Remembered?,” Parsons School of Design, New York, 2024
“Luxe, Calme, Volupté,” Candice Madey Gallery, New York, 2023
“Blurry Self Portraits: The Expanse and the Body in 1980s Gay Art,” Visual AIDS Web Gallery, 2021
“Creative Pride: Reflection and Celebration,” The National Arts Club, New York, 2019
“Curator’s Choice III,” Bronx Museum, New York, 1987
“Outside Cuba/Fuera de Cuba,” Zimmerli Museum, New Brunswick, 1987 / Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art, New York, 1987 / Miami University Art Museum, Oxford, Ohio, 1987 / Museo de Art de Ponse, Puerto Rico, 1988 / Museum of Fine Arts, Miami, Florida, 1988
“The Great Drawing Show 1587-1987,” Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, 1987
“Natural Desire,” David Beitzel Gallery, New York, 1986
“Seven in the 80’s,” The Metropolitan Museum Art Center, Miami, 1986
“Shaping the Air: Fans,” Tossan-Tossan Gallery, New York, 1985
“Jack Barth, Vincent Gallo, Robert Hawkins, Bruce Mellett, Gustavo Ojeda” Luhring, Augustine and Hodes Gallery, New York 1985
“The Liberty Show,” M-13 Gallery, New York, 1985
“The Subway Show,” Lehman College Art Gallery, New York, 1985
“Scapes,” University of California Santa Barbara Art Museum, Santa Barbara, 1985
“New York’s Finest,” Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, 1985
“Arco ’85,” Tossan-Tossan Gallery, International Contemporary Art Fair, Madrid, 1985
“Young Collectors of Latin American Art,” The Metropolitan Museum Art Center, Miami, 1984
“Night Lights,” Dart Gallery, Chicago, 1984
“Rediscovering Romanticism in New York City,” New Math Gallery, New York, 1984
“East Village Art in Berlin,” Zellermayer Galerie, Berlin, 1984
“Summer Group Show,” Tracy Garet Gallery, 1984
“An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1984
“Romantic Paintings,” Tracy Garet Gallery, New York, 1984
“V Biennial of Latin American Prints,” Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueño, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1981
“Six Young Cuban Painters in New York,” Seventeenth Street Gallery, New York, 1981
“Who Am I? A Self Portrait Show,” Organization for Independent Artists, New York, 1980
Selected Bibliography on Gustavo
Felix Bernstein, “Review of An Excess of Quiet,” Entropy, 2021.
Jarrett Earnest and Gabriel Ojeda in conversation on Gustavo Ojeda and queer archives, Visual AIDS, 2021
Gabriel Chazan, “On Tenderness: A Review of An Excess of Quiet,” The Expanded Field, 2020.
Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué, “Introduction,” An Excess of Quiet: Selected Sketches by Gustavo Ojeda, 1979-1989, Soberscove Press, 2020.
Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué, “Gustavo Ojeda and What He Made,” The Moon Will Sink Into the Street, ICA Philadelphia, 2018
Gerrit Henry, “Gustavo Ojeda at Beitzel,” Art in America, October 1987
John Sturman, “Gustavo Ojeda,” ARTNews, September 1987
William Zimmer, The New York Times, New Jersey Edition, April 19, 1987
Marc Furstenberg, “My Beat, Soho,” March 18, 1987
Michael Laurence, “Gustavo Ojeda, Michael Kohn Gallery,” Flash Art, October/November 1986
Michael Laurence, “Michael Laurence on Art,” The West Hollywood Paper, May 1986
Kristine McKenna, “Gustavo Ojeda,” Los Angeles Times, April 1986
Robert L. Pincus, “Santa Barbara Show Features Landscapes With a Fresh Bloom,” The San Diego Union, December 1985
Robert McDonald, “The Surrounding World: Scapes,” Artweek, November 1985
Josepf Woodard, “Landmark Working its Way to Forefront of New Art,” Santa Barbara, CA News Press, November 1985
Michael Kohn, “Recurring Themes and Motifs of Romantic Painting in Contemporary Art,” Flash Art, December 1984
Nicholas A. Moufarrege, “The Year After,” Flash Art, Summer 1984
Alan G. Artner, “A Staggering Sense of Rightness: MOMA’s Collection and New Show,” Chicago Tribune, May 1984
Ricardo Pau-Llosa, “Gustavo Ojeda and the Contours of the Real” An Intimate Look exhibition brochure, April 1982