Bill Olander.. William R. Olander.. passed away March 18th, 1989. He died of complications resulting from AIDS. He was by all accounts an amazing man. I've linked to NY Time's obit below.

I've been vaguely aware of this particular Bill Olander who is not myself for several years. Its one of those things you find out when you google yourself to see what people are saying about you on the internet. Today someone came looking for this man on my site for the first time that I'm aware. I thought it was worth while to talk about someone who I would be honored to be mistaken for.

After getting his PHd in art history, Bill became the curator of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in 1985. One of these days I should write a post about the awesomeness that it 1985. In the four years between then and his death was instrumental in a number of the New Museum's art initiatives spreading the word of the AIDS epidemic. Notable exhibits were "Homovideo: Where We are Now" and "Let the Record Show". All told, it was a powerful time pulling the gay community together.

In his own words:
"I first became aware of ACT UP, like many other New Yorkers, when I saw a poster appear on lower Broadway with the equation: SILENCE = DEATH. Accompanying these words, sited on a black background, was a pink triangle - the symbol of homosexual persecution during the Nazi period and, since the 1960s, the emblem of gay liberation. For anyone conversant with this iconography, there was no question that this was a poster designed to prove and heighten awareness of the AIDS crisis. To me, it was more than that: it was among the most significant works of art that had yet been done which was inspired and produced within the arms of the crisis." - Bill Olander, "The Window on Broadway by ACT UP," in On View (New York: New Museum of Contemporary Art, 1987), p. 1.

"Let the Record Show" was the result of Bill Olander's interaction with ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) and eventually led to the creation of Gran Fury. (Linked below). These days the New Museum provides a 'Visual AIDS Vanguard Award' in his name as well as a fund to help promote the works of up and coming gay/AIDS aware artists.

I'm afraid that my internet research only offers so much information. As much as I've called him a great man, I really have no idea what he was really like as a person. He did important things for a community who owes him a great deal but that's all I can say.