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 fifteen and eventually settled in Manhattan, first near Bryant Park and later around the Bowery. Homeless for long stretches of time, Cuffie became well-known in the 1990s for the sculptures he made using found materials, which he installed in public spaces downtown.
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 the Lower East Side. In his lifetime, Cuffie was featured in nearly a dozen group shows across the US at venues including Exit Art, American Primitive, and the Jamaica Art Center in New York, and the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. His work was included in "Souls Grown Diaspora," curated by Sam Gordon, at Apexart in 2020 and "Greater New York" at MoMA PS1 in 2021–22, both in New York.
