Barton Lidice Beneš, Molotov Cocktail, 1992

Glass-tube filled with the artist’s HIV positive blood, surrounded by firecrackers. Mounted on paper, framed 40.5 x 30.5 cm. Titled and signed in pencil by the artist. The glass-tube is loose from the sheet it was originally mounted on.

Original work from New York artist Beneš (1942–2012), first-generation veteran of the AIDS crisis who chronicled his own HIV+ status in 'Lethal Weapons', a series of works created with his own blood. The 'Lethal Weapons' exhibition toured Europe in the 1990s and traveled to Lund, Sweden, where authorities intervened and demeaned installation be heated to 70 degrees Celsius in a hospital oven to make it 'safe' for public viewing.