grazerkunstverein

(Publication)

Curtis Cuffie’s New York City

Curtis Cuffie, Tom Engels, Julie Peeters

2024

This publication coincides with Curtis Cuffie’s New York City, an exhibition presenting Curtis Cuffie’s work as captured in photographs by Katy Abel, Tom Warren, and Cuffie himself. Unlike the exhibition, this book exclusively features Cuffie’s photographs. It is the eight entry in a series of compact volumes featuring visual contributions, correspondence, responses, and conversations accompanying the Grazer Kunstverein exhibition program. 

Curtis Cuffie (1955–2002) was an artist based in New York City’s East Village. Originally from Hartsville, South Carolina, he moved to Brooklyn at the age of fifteen and eventually settled in Manhattan, first near Bryant Park and later around the Bowery where he lived unhoused for long stretches of his life. Artforum, The New York Times, and The Village Voice all profiled and reviewed his work and he held solo exhibitions at Flamingo East, Tribes, and 4th Street Photo Gallery, all in New York. During his lifetime, Cuffie was featured in nearly a dozen group shows across the US at various venues including Exit Art, American Primitive, and the Jamaica Art Center in New York, as well as the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. Cuffie was integral to a dynamic circle of artists and intellectuals, marking his place within New York’s black avant-garde. Recently, his work has been presented in exhibitions across New York City, including Souls Grown Diaspora (2020) at Apexart, curated by Sam Gordon; Greater New York (2021) at MoMA PS1, curated by Ruba Katrib; and Curtis Cuffie (2023) at Galerie Buchholz, curated by Scott Portnoy. Curtis Cuffie, a book edited by Scott Portnoy, Robert Snowden, and Ciarán Finlayson, and designed by Julie Peeters, was published by Blank Forms in 2023.

Editor: Tom Engels
Photographer: Curtis Cuffie 
Graphic Design: Julie Peeters
Printing and binding: Benedict Press, Münsterschwarzach
Edition: 350
Typeface: Kleisch GK by Chiachi Chao
Photo credits: All photographs in this publication, both color and black and white, were taken by Curtis Cuffie between 1990-1999. They have been reproduced with the permission of Carol Thompson and Galerie Buchholz
128 pages, color, B&W
ISBN: 978-3-9505230-7-2
Price: 15,- euros, 9,- euros for members