Ronnie Cutrone
{{short description|American painter}}
Ronnie Cutrone (July 10, 1948 – July 20, 2013) was an American Neo-pop painter and nightclub impresario. He began his career as Pop Artist Andy Warhol's assistantSteven Watson, Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties (2003) Pantheon, New York, p. 259 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.Steven Watson, Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties (2003) Pantheon, New York, p. 259 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.
Life and career
Ronald "Ronnie" Cutrone was born in New York City on July 10, 1948. He attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.{{Cite news |last=Fox |first=Margalit |date=2013-07-26 |title=Ronnie Cutrone, a Warhol Assistant, Dies at 65 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/26/arts/design/ronnie-cutrone-a-warhol-assistant-dies-at-65.html |access-date=2024-05-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
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.{{Cite news |last=Trebay |first=Guy |date=2013-08-02 |title=Ronnie Cutrone, a Man of Another, Cooler City |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/fashion/ronnie-cutrone-a-man-of-another-cooler-city.html |access-date=2024-05-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} He also performed with the Velvet Underground. Cutrone was Warhol's studio assistant at the Factory from 1972 until 1982. He said Warhol was "a second father to me."{{Cite news |last=Michelini |first=Alex |date=1987-02-26 |title=Andy framed it legal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-andy-warhols-will/147421291/ |access-date=2024-05-15 |work=Daily News |pages=7}} 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."{{Cite news|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/sphinx-and-superstar-what-it-was-like-to-know-the-real-andy-warhol|title=Sphinx and Superstar: What It Was Like to Know the Real Andy Warhol|last=Haden-Guest|first=Anthony|date=2018-11-14|access-date=2019-01-22|language=en}} 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.{{cite news |last=Greenfield-Sanders |first=Timothy |date=22 July 2013 |title=Ronnie Cutrone, RIP |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-greenfieldsanders/ronnie-cutrone-dead_b_3635619.html |accessdate=2013-07-23 |work=Huffington Post |publisher=}}{{Cite journal |last=Larson |first=Kay |date=April 1, 1985 |title=Garbage Chic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tLcBAAAAMBAJ&dq=ronnie+cutrone&pg=PA77 |journal=New York Magazine |pages=77}}
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|date=May 2024}}
Cutrone's works have been exhibited at: Whitney Museum (New York), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam), the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and fine art galleries internationally."Tataboo", Exhibition Catalogue [http://lorenzelliarte.com Lorenzelli Arte Milano], 2003
1979, he built a human-sized steel cage that was positioned in the middle of the Mudd Club in TriBeCa.{{Cite web |date=2018-11-09 |title=A Historical Look at The Mudd Club |url=https://crfashionbook.com/culture-a24889980-a-historical-look-at-the-mudd-club/ |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=CR Fashion Book |language=en-US}} He also helped the club's co-founder Steve Maas book talent at the club.{{Cite news |last=Keaton |first=Gary |date=June 21, 1979 |title=Here's Mudd in Your Sleaze |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/06/22/heres-mudd-in-your-sleaze/f2181763-a6fa-443c-bcdd-0ea045fca8c5/ |newspaper=The Washington Post}} He later built Club 82, where the New York Dolls and Blondie performed.{{Cite news |last=Hass |first=Nancy |date=2000-12-17 |title=A NIGHT OUT WITH: Ronnie Cutrone; Another New Thing |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/17/style/a-night-out-with-ronnie-cutrone-another-new-thing.html |access-date=2024-05-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} In 2000, Cutrone opened the Rubber Monkey, a nightclub in TriBeCa.{{Cite web |last= |first= |last2= |first2= |date=July 27, 2013 |title=In the News: Condo vs. Dog Owner |url=https://tribecacitizen.com/2013/07/27/in-the-news-condo-vs-dog-owner/ |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=Tribeca Citizen |language=en-US}}
Personal life
Cutrone was married four times. His first two marriages to makeup artist Gigi Williams ended in divorce.{{cite web | url=https://www.allamericanspeakers.com/celebritytalentbios/Kelly+Cutrone/386340 | title=Kelly Cutrone Biography | Booking Info for Speaking Engagements }} In 1986, he married Kelly Cutrone, but they later divorced. His third wife was an Israeli woman, Einat Katav, and that marriage also ended in divorce.
Cutrone dated writer Tama Janowitz in the 1980s. Their relationship ended when Cutrone reconciled with his first wife Gigi Williams in 1985.{{Cite book |last1=Warhol |first1=Andy |url= |title=The Andy Warhol Diaries |last2=Hackett |first2=Pat |date=1989 |publisher=Warner Books |isbn=978-0-446-51426-2 |location=New York |pages=668 |postscript=Entry date: August 8, 1985}} The characters Eleanor and Stash in Janowitz's novel-in-stories Slaves of New York (1986) are based on Janowitz and Cutrone.{{Cite book |last1=Warhol |first1=Andy |url= |title=The Andy Warhol diaries |last2=Hackett |first2=Pat |date=1989 |publisher=Warner Books |isbn=978-0-446-51426-2 |location=New York |pages=685 |postscript=Entry date: October 15, 1985}}
Death
Cutrone died at his home in Lake Peekskill, New York on July 20, 2013. In December 2013, Hiram Noel Mendez of Cortlandt was charged with second-degree burglary and other offenses for stealing artwork from Cutrone's home.{{Cite web |last=Corcoran |first=Terence |date=December 12, 2013 |title=Case continued in theft from Warhol assistant |url=https://www.lohud.com/story/news/2013/12/12/case-continued-in-theft-from-warhol-assistant/4002373/ |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=The Journal News |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last= |date=2013-12-12 |title=New York Man Stole Works From Warhol's Assistant After He Died: Police |url=https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/warhol-assistant-artwork-stolen/2124313/ |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=NBC New York |language=en-US}} Reportedly, during a visit to Cutrone's home, Mendez found him unresponsive and took some of his artwork before notifying authorities hours later. Cutrone's associates noticed some artworks missing and notified the police.
References
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Category:Painters from New York City
Category:20th-century American painters
Category:American male painters
Category:21st-century American painters
Category:People associated with The Factory