Ronnie Cutrone (July 10, 1948 – July 20, 2013) was an American Neo-pop painter and nightclub impresario. He began his career as Pop ArtistAndy Warhol's assistant[1] before becoming known for his own paintings of cartoon characters. He was a performer with Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable that also featured The Velvet Underground.[2] Cutrone also helped run the New York City nightclub Mudd Club and later operated his own short term bar/dance club/cabaret space/tapas lounge nightclub called The Rubber Monkey at 279 Church Street in TriBeCa. His memories play a part in the history of punk rock book Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain.
As a teenager, Cutrone hung around pop artist Andy Warhol's Factory. He became a go-go dancer and among his first gigs was at the Dom Club on St. Marks Place in Manhattan's East Village.[4] He also performed with the Velvet Underground.[3] Cutrone was Warhol's studio assistant at the Factory from 1972 until 1982.[5] He said Warhol was "a second father to me."[6] He worked with Warhol on paintings, prints, films, and other concepts, co-opting Warhol's earliest work (pre-1960) as well as works by Roy Lichtenstein and others, until finally distilling those myriad influences into the style a few critics eventually labeled "Post-Pop."[7] Cutrone's paintings are colorful and lively depictions of American cartoon characters such as Felix the Cat, Tweety Bird and Sylvester, Woody Woodpecker, the Pink Panther, and the Smurfs.[5][8]
He exhibited at the Niveau Gallery in 1979 with a Scottish artist called Mike Gall who showed paintings of Snoopy, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, the Pink Panther and also a small series of Peter Rabbit paintings. Victor Hugo was the other artist who was featured in this group show which was called "Three New New York Artists."[citation needed]
1979, he built a human-sized steel cage that was positioned in the middle of the Mudd Club in TriBeCa.[10] He also helped the club's co-founder Steve Maas book talent at the club.[11] He later built Club 82, where the New York Dolls and Blondie performed.[12] In 2000, Cutrone opened the Rubber Monkey, a nightclub in TriBeCa.[12][13]
Personal life
Cutrone was married four times. His first two marriages to makeup artist Gigi Williams ended in divorce.[14] In 1986, he married Kelly Cutrone, but they later divorced.[3] His third wife was an Israeli woman, Einat Katav, and that marriage also ended in divorce.[3]
Cutrone dated writer Tama Janowitz in the 1980s.[4] Their relationship ended when Cutrone reconciled with his first wife Gigi Williams in 1985.[15] The characters Eleanor and Stash in Janowitz's novel-in-stories Slaves of New York (1986) are based on Janowitz and Cutrone.[16]
Death
Cutrone died at his home in Lake Peekskill, New York on July 20, 2013.[3] In December 2013, Hiram Noel Mendez of Cortlandt was charged with second-degree burglary and other offenses for stealing artwork from Cutrone's home.[17][18] Reportedly, during a visit to Cutrone's home, Mendez found him unresponsive and took some of his artwork before notifying authorities hours later.[17] Cutrone's associates noticed some artworks missing and notified the police.[17]
References
^Steven Watson, Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties (2003) Pantheon, New York, p. 259
^Steven Watson, Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties (2003) Pantheon, New York, p. 259
^Warhol, Andy; Hackett, Pat (1989). The Andy Warhol Diaries. New York: Warner Books. p. 668. ISBN978-0-446-51426-2Entry date: August 8, 1985{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
^Warhol, Andy; Hackett, Pat (1989). The Andy Warhol diaries. New York: Warner Books. p. 685. ISBN978-0-446-51426-2Entry date: October 15, 1985{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
