Steve Kaufman was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1960. At the age of eight, he had his first exhibition, and by the time he was 12 he was painting faces on rocks of pets for Macy’s department store in NYC. Steve Kaufman later worked as an assistant to Andy Warhol in Warhol’s factory, working on the truly iconic images of Marilyn Monroe and the Campbell’s soup cans.
In 1989 Kaufman opened his own art studio and hired many of New York’s homeless people to work for him. He painted the portraits of three homeless people, going on to help raise almost five million dollars to benefit the homeless. In 2002 Kaufman donated a portrait of Princess Diana to the Elton John AIDS Foundation. He began to place his paintings in public places throughout the USA for American citizens to enjoy. Kaufman displayed a Muhammad Ali painting at Brooklyn's famous Gleason's Gym, a Frank Sinatra portrait at the University of Hofstra and a Marilyn Monroe image at the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Kaufman was renowned for his charity work, contributing to many charities through his artwork and by also visiting with the underprivileged and disabled in person. He supported over 170 charities a year towards the end of his life.
Steve Kaufman’s work is displayed in the White House, the Smithsonian, and hundreds of other public and private collections around the world. He also created an AIDS Memorial in New York City. He suffered a series of strokes, cardiac arrests and an accident and died in September 2010.
