Tim Rollins remembered at moving NY tribute event

Tributes were paid earlier this week to a titan of the art world when friends and fans of the late activist and educator Tim Rollins gathered for a celebration of his life and achievements at the SVA Theatre in Chelsea, New York. Rollins died last December; his work with students in the South Bronx in the early 1980s prompted him to found the collective K.O.S. (Kids of Survival) which he continued to lead for more than three decades. K.O.S. member Angel Abreu led the tributes, saying that “it was all representative of Tim’s indelible mark on me, the rest of KOS and the countless others that were lucky enough to share moments with him.” Deborah Cullen-Morales, the director of the Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University, picks out highlights, including the rousing send off by Rollins’s church choir. “I was moved by [US curator] Julie Ault's deeply felt but wryly humorous recollections—especially her notes on Tim's clothing phases over the years,” she adds.