(1962-2012)
Born: Buffalo, New York, United States
Cindy Suffoletto was born in Buffalo, New York in 1962 and studied art at Buffalo State College. She developed a practice focused on sculpture, mixed media collage, and works on paper. She showed her work in group exhibitions in Western New York at the Upton Gallery at Buffalo State College and The Artists Gallery and Hallwalls at the Essex Art Center before moving to New York City with her partner, the artist Andrew Topolski, in the mid-1980s.
Suffoletto and Topolski shared a studio on Broadway in Williamsburg from the late ‘80s to the early ‘90s. Suffoletto’s work from this period, including sculpture and large-scale works on paper, focused on architectural and religious themes, from the design of Gothic cathedrals to the polylinguistic and ecumenical hybridization of the Palaeologan Renaissance. She exhibited this work in group shows at the Rotunda Gallery of the Brooklyn War Memorial and at the Galerie Schüppenhauer in Köln, Germany.
Suffoletto retreated from her own active studio practice in the early 90s as she focused on supporting Topolski’s career–as the household breadwinner, accountant, business manager, and confidant. She cataloged Topolski’s work, tracked and managed his sales, handled correspondence with collectors and gallerists, and coordinated outreach to dozens of corporate art buying programs.
Suffoletto returned to an active studio practice only after Topolski’s passing, focusing on oils and mixed-media work that drew from the themes and materials that surrounded her home in the Catskills hamlet of Callicoon, New York. She shared this work with close friends and family but made no effort to sell or exhibit it. She passed away in 2012 following a brief and precipitous illness.
Exhibitions
1991 - Galerie Schüppenhauer, Cologne, Germany, “Autour de Kolár-collage”Featuring Hans Arp, Mieczyslaw Berman, Monika Brandmeier, Jim Dine,Max Ernst, Winfred Gaul, Al Hansen, Maurice Henry, Hannah Höch, Leni Hoffmann, Fritz Klemm, Jiri Kolar, Jan Kotik, Helmut Löhr, Gerhard Meerwein, Franz Mon, Ladislav Novak, Jack Ox, Mimmo Rotella, Gerhard Rühm, Ulf Rungenhagen, Fanny Schoening, Kurt Schwitters, BogomilStephan, Cindy Suffoletto, Andrew Topolski, Karel Trinkewitz, Victor Vasarely, and Jaques de laVilleglé.
1987 - The Rotunda Gallery, The Brooklyn War Memorial, Brooklyn, NY, “Painting Into Sculpture”(Anita Curtis, Steve Grossman, Nade Haley, Creighton Michael, Jim Nickel, Carol Parlato, Cindy Suffoletto, August 1 - September 5, 1987, curated by Charlotta Kotik and John Toth)
1984 - Hallwalls, Buffalo, NY, “Personal Effects”1984 - Peopleart/Bflo, Buffalo, NY, “Sculpture for Walls,” May-June 8, 1984Polly Robinson, Craig Keller, Olaf Hanel, Cindy Suffoletto, and John Toth (who curated the exhibition)
Review with excerpt: Foran, Jack. “Sculpture Art Draws Charm From Simplicity.” The Buffalo News. (May 24, 1984). “Cindy Suffoletto’s constructions feature rough and rugged materials—plaster on chicken wire and burlap fastened to and hanging from an unfinished wood backdrop—and dualities. Right-and-left symmetry seems a remotely biological reference and becomes an inner principle of orderliness and necessity amid the rough-hewn qualities of the work.”
1983 - New Gallery, Villa Maria College of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, “Bill Huggins, Cindy Suffoletto, Ran Webber, Donna Womeldorf"November 4 - December 4, 1983
1983 - The Artists Gallery, Buffalo, NY, “Cindy Suffoletto, Brian Duffy”July 8 - 31, 1983
1983 - Burchfield Center, Buffalo State College, Buffalo, NY, “5th Western New York Collegiate Drawing Competition”February 27 - March 31, 1983. Selected by Juror Barbara Insalaco.
Submissions by Cindy Suffoletto/State University College at Buffalo State University
32B Essex Street, Buffalo, NY 14213, 881-4837
Accepted: Reversion, pencil and pastel on paper, $350
Not accepted: Countless Messages
Exhibition traveled to:
The Forum Gallery, Jamestown Community College, Jamestown, NY 14701, September 12-30, 1983.
The Niagara County Community College Art Gallery, Sanborn, NY, January 16-February 16, 1984
Review with excerpt: Bannon, Anthony. “Young Artists Have Integrity.” The Buffalo News. (March 13, 1983): G-5. “Also work of integrity and style by Cindy Suffoletto, Eric J. Knerr, Donna Womeldorf and Laura J. Sadowski.”
1982 – Peopleart/Bflo, 224 Lexington Avenue, Buffalo, NY, “Drawings”