Cary S. Leibowitz, 2009
Courtesy the artist and Alexander Gray Associates


A few years back the artist, Patrick Cunningham, handed me a photo album he'd found lying curbside somewhere in the Lower East Side. He knew I had a soft spot for "found photography" and figured I'd appreciate the anonymous trove.

I went home that day and spent a considerable amount of time poring over the album. From what I can tell, it is the chronicle of a gay couple's relationship through a good number of years in the 90s. The pictures are intimate, personal, and, as one might expect, range from silly to sober. Haircuts evolve, fashions change, weight is gained and lost. A collection of tiny moments memorialized but nothing special, really, aside from the fact that this carefully constructed record of a relationship was left on a curb in the Lower East Side.

Revisiting the album after some time, I noticed something unique about it: The two men never appear in the same picture. They never sit next to nor hold one another. They never ask friends, relatives, or strangers to take a snapshot o f them together. Each man simply poses for the other, the camera lens always uniting them. These pictures tell a story of isolated admiration/adoration made manifest only through the achitecture of the album itself.

I often wonder if the couple is still together. I hope to meet them one day and, as difficult as it would be for me to part with it, return the album to one or both of them.

Here at Cuchifritos, the album is on display, encircled by works that reference its surrounding themes such as duality, isolation, love, longing and desire.

The show includes works in all media, some made specifically for the exhibition.

Bill Previdi


A Relationship Left For Dead on the Lower East Side
Artists include: Sandra Bermudez, Geoffrey Chadsey, Patrick Cunningham, Taylor Davis, Linda Hesh, Ashley Holmes, Coke Wisdom O'Neal, Katherine Streeter, Jordan Tinker

Until 21 February
Cuchifritos
The Essex Market
120 Essex Street (between Rivington and Delancy)
Lower East Side
New York