Blending the emotional depth of memoir with the breadth of biography, I Am Here You Are Not I Love You attempts to piece together clues from the lives and art of Aidan Ryan’s late uncle and aunt, Andrew Topolski and Cindy Suffoletto.
The book presents a critical reexamination of Andrew Topolski, an overlooked luminary of intermedia and postminimalism. In repositioning Topolski’s legacy and vast body of work, Ryan makes compelling findings about the interplay of talent, luck, and community support in the making or breaking of artistic careers. At the same time, the story shares the significant and never-before-seen body of work by Cindy Suffoletto, a talented and inventive artist little shown and never cataloged during her short life. Ultimately, Ryan argues that the time is right for both to take up a privileged place among the great artists of their generation.
“I Am Here You Are Not I Love You is a rich and romantic tale of rediscovery for the author, but outright discovery for us. In prose that wanders seamlessly between deeply personal recollections and the cold reality of history, Ryan introduces the reader to his late aunt and uncle, the artists Cindy Suffoletto and Andrew Topolski, the New York art world at the end of the twentieth century, and the long overlooked artistic ferment in his native city of Buffalo. Through the story of his beloved aunt and uncle, Ryan has restored an important missing chapter of the history of American art.”—Mary Gabriel, author, Ninth Street Women
