Grazer Kunstverein

The ephemeral artworks of Curtis Cuffie

Cuffie's works can be seen as slide projections at the Kunstverein

(Bild: M. Reichart)

The Grazer Kunstverein is showing works by the New York outsider artist Curtis Cuffie - and takes us into a world full of humor and confidence in times when both were in short supply.

This is the very first time that the work of New York artist Curtis Cuffie, who died in 2002 at the age of just 47, has been shown in Europe. The artistic director of the Grazer Kunstverein, Tom Engels, is rightly proud of this. After all, the black outsider is a recognized art great in the USA, but in this country he is still waiting to be discovered. And that is definitely worth it.

Curtis Cuffie's life did not conform to the norm. Thrown off course early on by the death of his mother, he ended up on the streets. In a district of New York that was characterized by violence and racism in the 1980s and 1990s. He was a striking figure, dressed in his own personal style, sang far too loudly and created spontaneous works of art on the streets from the garbage of a disillusioned society.

Street art of a special kind
These cheerful, colorful sculptures, which can also be seen as a counter-voice to the restrictive urban policies of Rudy Giuliani, were often not granted a long lifespan. Cuffie himself often changed them in passing. They were cleared away by the police and disposed of by garbage collectors, often leaving only the memory of passers-by. Until the waitress Katy Abel, who later became Cuffie's girlfriend, began to photograph these works of art. Photographer Tom Warren also became a keeper of the works in this way. 

Katy Abel photographed this work by Curtis Cuffie

(Bild: Katy Abel)

The refuse collectors, most of whom were black, also developed a connection to Cuffie's art and cleared it away less and less. And, of course, the then very lively art scene in New York gradually became aware of the outsider. Towards the end of his life, Curtis Cuffie gained recognition and was exhibited alongside illustrious names such as Vito Acconci.

At the Grazer Kunstverein, Tom Engels has come up with a very special method of presentation. Using numerous slide projectors, he projects a good 700 photos of Katy Abel, Tom Warren, but also those of Cuffie himself, which are more like his spontaneous abstract works than images of them, onto the walls. The result is not only a rapid succession of images, but also an air of transience wafting through the exhibition. It can be seen until June 1.