Thomas Sokolowski (1950–2020) was a museum director, curator, and HIV/AIDS activist. One of his earliest appointments was as Curator of European Painting and Sculpture at the Chrysler Museum of Art, in Norfolk, VA, where he later became Chief Curator. In 1984, Sokolowski became the Director of the Grey Art Gallery at New York University. In 1988, alongside Robert Atkins, Gary Garrels, and William Olander, Sokolowski founded Visual AIDS, an organization which supports the work and legacy of HIV positive artists and uses art to provoke dialogue around AIDS. With Visual AIDS, Sokolowski played a key role in organizing the first Day Without Art in 1989. The event continues to this day, involving art institutions across the globe.
In 1987, Sokolowski curated the ICI exhibition Morality Tales: History Painting in the 1980s (1987-1989), reflecting on the tradition of history painting in relation to contemporary works being created in the context of the developing AIDS crisis. At the same time he co-curated From Media to Metaphor: Art About AIDS with Robert Atkins, documenting more directly the response of artists to the AIDS crisis. It opened at the Grey in 1987, and was developed as an ICI traveling exhibition in 1992. In 1996, Sokolowski left the Grey Art Gallery to serve as Director of the Andy Warhol Museum until 2010. In 2017, he was appointed Director of the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University. Sokolowski held a BA from the University of Chicago and a MA from New York University.
