David Wojnarowicz; Multimedia Artist Battled With NEA

David Wojnarowicz, 37, a controversial artist at the center of a debate over government support of the arts. The National Endowment for the Arts rescinded money for an exhibition catalogue in 1989 after Wojnarowicz, a multimedia artist, wrote an essay in which he attacked public figures. The group made amends by supporting a 10-year retrospective of his work at Illinois State University. The show was also exhibited at the Santa Monica Museum of Art in 1990. The rock band U2 selected Wojnarowicz’s creative photograph of buffalo toppling over a cliff as an album cover and in a video for the song “One.� On Wednesday in New York of AIDS.