Gilberto Vazquez

Sporting his military camouflage jacket and Che Guevara hat, David Cutrone mingles on the corner of Graham Avenue and Grand Street in Williamsburg as the locals, hipsters and bar hoppers pace the streets to their next destinations. In one hand is his cherry-flavored Black-n-Mild cigar and in his other, a large cup of black coffee with two sugars and a hint of whole milk.

David Cutrone is an artist who was born and raised in and about Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Born in the 1950s, he is now sixty one years old. His parents are Italian and Sicilian and were both born here in America. His grandparents came to America in the 1890s. He is the father of two sons and two daughters with several grand kids. He barely talks to his mother who is still alive at eighty six and lives a mere seven blocks away and his father is long deceased.

David grew up in Brooklyn and has lived here his whole life. He was raised in Marcy next to the projects and was often in the mix with the neighborhood teens getting into trouble and living life the way a lot of kids at the Marcy Projects do. He rolled with gangs, got into street fights, and experimented with drugs while drinking alcohol. He also did a lot of art work and was very talented at it. “I grew up in the Marcy Projects. I was one of the only white kids in an all-black neighborhood. I ran the streets! And when I wasn’t outside, I did a lot of artwork. Everyone used to ask me for a portrait.”

David attributes his time spent drawing, painting and making portraits as sort of his savior from being on the streets because sometimes he just wanted to stay inside and work on art while his crew would call him to come outside.

Today, David still lives in Williamsburg and spends most of his talking politics and working on art. When he is not outside he can be seen out his fourth floor public housing apartment window taking photographs and drawing as his black cat stares at the birds and bystanders in the distance. He steadily continues to work on his art and produces a few pieces of art per week, some smaller projects and some that take weeks to finish, most of them centered on Williamsburg, New York City and city life, famous people, or have some political meaning behind them.

David is now working on writing his book titled “My Death Wish” in which he talks about his trials and tribulations growing up in the ghetto and throughout his sixty odd years on this planet. The book focuses in on memories and experiences from his childhood,life, family, his love of art, and even reserves several chapters on his struggles with drugs, suicide and his near death experiences.

As he smokes his cigar and we sit by his kitchen window talking politics, he says, “People come and people go. You grow older and all your friends and family start to die around you and the only thing I ask God is why am I still here?”