Diego Cortez

Diego Cortez
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Name	Diego Cortez
Birth date	1946
Birth place	New Orleans, Louisiana
Death date	2021
Death place	New York City
Occupation	Curator; filmmaker; art dealer; impresario
Known for	Curating "New York/New Wave"; promoting Jean-Michel Basquiat

Diego Cortez was an American curator, filmmaker, photographer, and cultural impresario who played a pivotal role in the New York art and music scenes of the 1970s and 1980s. Best known for organizing the landmark exhibition New York/New Wave, he bridged communities that included Italian American scenes, Punk rock venues, No Wave filmmakers, and the nascent Hip hop movement, introducing audiences and institutions to figures who went on to define contemporary art and culture. His interdisciplinary activities connected galleries, clubs, publications, and museums across SoHo, Lower East Side, and international circuits.

Early life and education

Born in New Orleans in 1946, Cortez grew up amid the cultural mix of Louisiana and later relocated to the northeastern United States. He attended artistic and academic circles influenced by Beat Generation legacies, Abstract Expressionism collections, and Pop Art exhibitions, developing an early interest in experimental film and underground music. Cortez's formative connections included encounters with figures associated with Andy Warhol, William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, and the downtown scenes that animated Greenwich Village and Chelsea in the 1960s and 1970s.

Career and curatorial work

Cortez emerged as a curator and promoter within the cross-pollinated worlds of galleries, clubs, and independent media. He worked with venues and institutions such as The Mudd Club, Danceteria, White Columns, and small commercial galleries in SoHo, forging relationships with collectors and curators from Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, and Brooklyn Museum. He organized exhibitions and events that featured artists and musicians from disparate movements including Graffiti art practitioners, Conceptual art figures, and Performance art collectives. Cortez collaborated with dealers and curators associated with Larry Gagosian, Mary Boone, Leo Castelli, and connected emerging artists to critics at publications like Artforum, The Village Voice, Interview, and Rolling Stone. His curatorial approach emphasized interdisciplinary shows that placed visual artists alongside musicians and filmmakers, anticipating later institutional practices at places such as Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, and Guggenheim Museum.

Collaboration with Jean-Michel Basquiat and the 1981 Times Square show

Cortez is widely credited with introducing a young artist from Lower East Side circles to key figures in the contemporary art market and organizing inclusion in the 1981 exhibition New York/New Wave. That exhibition, held at a Times Square venue associated with the downtown underground, showcased a cohort including artists who would become globally prominent: participants connected to Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Kiki Smith, Fab 5 Freddy, and Jenny Holzer. Cortez’s promotion of Basquiat intersected with gatekeepers and institutions such as Annina Nosei, Brant Foundation, Ronald Ophuis, and collectors who later worked with Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and Saatchi Gallery-related networks. The Times Square show created exposure routes to established galleries, connecting names later present in historical surveys at Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and international biennials including the Venice Biennale.

Film, photography, and music projects

Beyond curating, Cortez produced and participated in experimental film and photographic projects alongside No Wave Cinema directors and musicians. He collaborated with filmmakers and performers from circles surrounding Jim Jarmusch, Basilisk, Suzanne Vega, and participants in CBGB-adjacent scenes. Cortez shot photography that documented downtown nightlife and worked on sound and video projects with figures from Talking Heads, Blondie, The Clash, and independent Hip hop pioneers including Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa. He also organized multimedia events featuring projections, live performances, and screenings linked to festivals and venues like Independent Film Channel, Sundance Film Festival, and downtown art spaces that later evolved into programs at New York Film Festival and Anthology Film Archives.

Later life, activism, and legacy

In later decades Cortez remained active as an adviser, dealer, and advocate for artists and cultural institutions, engaging with biennials, retrospectives, and archives that reassessed the downtown scenes of the 1970s and 1980s. He worked with independent curators, collectors, and foundations to recover and preserve material related to figures represented in institutional histories such as Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibitions, Keith Haring retrospectives, and surveys of Graffiti art and Street art. Cortez participated in panels and educational programs at School of Visual Arts, Pratt Institute, Cooper Union, and museums that developed scholarly catalogs and exhibitions. Activist engagements included collaborations with community organizations and cultural preservation groups in Lower Manhattan Development Corporation-adjacent projects and initiatives to support artists’ rights and archival efforts. His legacy is reflected in scholarship, auctions, and exhibition histories at institutions like Christie’s, Sotheby’s, MOCA, and university programs documenting downtown New York’s creative networks.

Category:American curators Category:American photographers Category:People from New Orleans