Patrick Angus's Last Address

Patrick Angus was once described as the Toulouse-Lautrec of Times Square, and in the 80's set out to document the gay underground scene in what was then a city in the throes of an epidemic. Working stints as a security guard, and as an art gallery gift shop attendant, Mr. Angus continued to paint while he lived in a welfare hotel, his work dismissed by many at the time as being too gay, too figurative, and far too dirty.

"In the last year of life, as he struggled with AIDS with little medical treatment while telling his friends that he was seeing doctors and following their orders, Angus was astonished by a burst of good fortune. In a matter of months, he had three one-person exhibitions (one at the University of California in Santa Barbara and the Leslie-Lohman and Ganymede galleries in New York City) and sold six pieces to painter David Hockney. The New York exhibitions and a book about his work were the result of the tireless diligence of his friend Douglas Turnbaugh in promoting him in his final months. 
He had not been so afraid of dying, Angus told Turnbaugh, as that his work would end up in a dumpster. On his deathbed at St. Vincent's hospital, looking at the proof sheets of Strip Show, a soon-to-be-published book of his paintings, he whispered, "This is the happiest day of my life." - an extract from the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art.

Mr. Angus found a friend in Quentin Crisp, who attempted to promote the young artist's work. Angus's character makes an appearance in the television sequel to "The Naked Civil Servant" - a clip from the film follows.



Mr. Angus also appears as himself in the documentary Resident Alien. Do check out the website Last Address, for a list of the last homes of artists in New York who died of AIDS. A great resource.