David Wojnarowicz, “The Missing Children Show” Mural, 1985. Mixed media. Photographer: Mindy Best (photographed in 2022). Copyright Estate of David Wojnarowicz. Courtesy of the Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P·P·O·W, New York.
In December, 1985, David Wojnarowicz participated in “The Missing Children Show: 6 Artists from the East Village on Main Street” in Louisville, Kentucky.
Together, David, Judy Glantzman, Rich Colicchio, Kiely Jenkins, Rhonda Zwillinger and Futura 2000 transformed the rubble-strewn ground floor of the old Kentucky Lithograph building on Main Street.
In advance of the show, Louisville’s Courier-Journal ran an article titled “Louisville to import graffiti” describing the East Village Art movement as inspired by graffiti “by young artists who [create] art in and on abandoned buildings.” The reporter warned, “The art may be scary, repetitious and disgusting but it often makes social comments.”
David’s work occupied one corner of the room. Here he painted a mural of an exploding house, a portal full of cow carcasses under a blue sky (a routine sight in New York’s meatpacking district), and his trademark gagging cow. In front of them, David suspended a yellow skeleton face down from the ceiling over a black chair with flames painted on it. On the chair, he placed a battery-powered crawling doll, its head replaced with a globe, which he restrained from crawling off with a string. “The chair is hell,” David told a reporter. “It’s a metaphor for the aftermath of that kind of act.”
The show was a benefit for Kentucky’s Child Victims’ Trust Fund which supported programs to prevent child abuse. It was curated by local art dealer Potter Coe, and co-sponsored/produced by The Creative Production House.
Following the exhibition, the neighborhood was slowly revitalized and, in 1987, The Kentucky Lithography building where it was held was adapted to to house 32 apartments with 1600 square feet of commercial space on the first floor. The building itself, now known as The Billy Goat Strut, at 600 East Main Street, is a significant piece of Louisville history— a National Registry building built in 1878. It lies within the Phoenix Hill Historic District also known as NuLu or East Market District (butting up against the Butchertown historic district).
In 2022, David’s murals were found preserved behind drywall while preparing the space for commercial use. While the building owners were initially amenable to The Foundation protecting them with a barrier, they were not willing to consider even limited public access. In 2025, they decided to move ahead with plans to convert the space where the murals are located into a gym. On August 7th, 2025, the murals were once again covered up with drywall, protected, but no longer to be seen.
See press coverage:
artnet: Developers Wall Over Long Lost David Wojnarowicz Mural, Sparking Outcries
Hyperallergic: 40-Year-Old David Wojnarowicz Mural Resurfaces, Only to Be Hidden Again
The Art Newspaper: Rediscovered David Wojnarowicz mural could disappear from view again
