De Sana was born in Detroit in 1950, but grew up in Atlanta. He began to take photographs being a teen, mostly photographing his friends and acquaintances naked. His early photographs were of his friends striking silly and sexy poses in houses and gardens. He moved to New York in 1973. De Sana continued to picture the human body as the primary subject. He worked in black and white till 1980, when he began to experiment with color photography. De Sana died in 1990 from AIDS related illness.[4]
He had numerous solo exhibitions, including those in Wilkinson Gallery, London; Pat Hearn Gallery, New York; Galerie Jacques de Windt, Brussels and Museum of the Twentieth Century, Vienna, Austria
Press Release - Jimmy DeSana: Late Work presents 30 rare Cibachrome prints made by the artist in 1985. This set of “lost” prints has never before been on view to the public and is being presented at a time when interest in DeSana is at a renewed high. Art and photography from the early 1980s is being critically revisited in recent exhibitions at major museums and galleries.
© Jimmy DeSana - Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York
There is a special interest now in queer artists and the legacy of a generation destroyed by AIDS. Jimmy DeSana is an essential figure in this evolving canon. This exhibition is mounted in cooperation with Salon 94 and the Jimmy DeSana Trust.
© Jimmy DeSana - Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York
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