Early Life
He was born in Long Island as John McLaughlin. He was given the last name of Sex soon after moving to New York City. He attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City where he knew Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. He often used the print studio there to create punk-style posters for downtown bands, and later for himself. He exhibited some of his word-based art at the "Beyond Words" show at the Mudd Club (alongside artists such as Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf and Futura 2000; and performers Iggy Pop, Fab Five Freddy and Alan Vega), and at the "New York / New Wave" exhibition at P.S.1, both in 1981. He soon met Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias in the downtown New York scene and gave up painting, finding he could better express himself in performance.
Read more about this topic: John Sex
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