Rago Auctions

Born and raised in New York City, poet and performance artist John Giorno is celebrated for the unapologetic spirit and generosity that he brought to his life of creativity. A figure of the New York art scene, he became recognized in the early 1960s for his performance in Andy Warhol's eight-hour film Sleep (1964). That same decade, he would collaborate with Robert Rauschenberg on multiple projects, including the release of both his first monograph and LP. In 1969, Giorno's Dial-A-Poem was included in the Museum of Modern Art's group exhibition Information, featuring works from Anne Waldman, Diane DiPrima, Allen Ginsberg, and the Black Panthers' Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, and Kathleen Cleaver. Outspoken about gay rights, police violence, and his opposition to the Vietnam War, Giorno engaged in what Artforum dubbed "positive subversion," seamlessly melding radical politics with his art and performance through his non-profit and media label Giorno Poetry Systems. Giorno described himself as a person of "promiscuous compassion," and in 1984 established the AIDS Treatment Project as an initiative of Giorno Poetry Systems in order to provide resources to artists living with AIDS.