Nitty Gritty Slim's Bike and the Street Art
of Curtis Cuffie and Wesley Willis
June 13, 2001 - August 23, 2001

Press release:
Nitty Gritty: Slim's Bike and the Street Art of Curtis Cuffie
and Wesley Willis to open on June 13 at Intuit

Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art will present the exhibition, Nitty Gritty: Slim's Bike and the Street Art of Curtis Cuffie and Wesley Willis, from June 13 through August 23, at Intuit, 756 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago. Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday; admission is free. Running concurrently in Intuit's back gallery will be the exhibit Gugging: An Artists' House, featuring work by artists from an Austrian psychiatric hospital. Both exhibits open with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, June 13.

Nitty Gritty: Slim's Bike and the Street Art of Curtis Cuffie and Wesley Willis, features the work of three African-American street artists: the late Curtis Cuffie from New York; the late James "Slim" Thompson from Detroit; and Wesley Willis of Chicago.

Jim Thompson, better known as Slim, rode around Detroit's Cass Corridor area on his unique art bike. Slim's Bike is an elaborate assemblage of mixed materials: a conventional Schwinn street cruiser embellished with pictures of his friends and people in the neighborhood, pinup pictures of women in provocative dress, magazine cutouts, religious symbols, flags, fabric, fur, mirrors and pinwheels. Plastic jugs are used as headlights. Flashlights attached to the frame of the bike, facing backwards, are covered by plastic cups to give them color. The bike's seat was replaced with a wooden toilet seat, and two battery-powered radios in front and in back of the seat played the blues as Slim rode around. At seven-feet tall and nine-feet long, the bike is massive, and sized to fit its rider - Slim was six-foot-nine. He quickly became a legendary urban figure, stopping to tell stories about his eccentric and often sexual proclivities. Slim's public persona was designed to shock people, and he enjoyed doing so.

Like Slim Thompson, Curtis Cuffie also created art from objects found in his neighborhood. Homeless for a large portion of his life, Cuffie created anthropomorphic sculptures from found and discarded objects. He began creating exhibitions on fences near Cooper Union in New York, and gained the admiration of the local college community. Cuffie often had sculpture in many places at once. Because Cuffie's work was created and displayed in public spaces, it was often dismantled by city workers and thrown away. Eventually, Cuffie took a job at Cooper Union and found a home, though his work was exhibited commercially even while he was still living on the street. Cuffie died in September 2002.

Wesley Willis, 39, creates urban cityscapes of specific Chicago locales with pen and marker on posterboard. His work is obsessive and linear. Willis suffers from schizophrenia and his 6-foot-5, 350-pound stature can be intimidating, as can his habit of head-butting his acquaintances. He has a visible lump on his forehead from years of head-butt greetings. Inspired by a friend, Willis decided he wanted to be a rock star in the early '90s. Willis is an internationally known songwriter and performer who has released nearly 40 albums and regularly tours the country. His drawings grace the covers of his CDs.