![]() Photography was his autobiography – he was a participant, not a voyeur. The thing that gave Mapplethorpe’s art such power was that he lived the life he photographed. “There’s something about the way he looks at things which is utterly unique.” ![]() “Really, what he was interested in was sculpture,” says Alison Jacques. Whether he was shooting a still life or an erect penis, he found theatricality in every scene. He was a perceptive portraitist with a classical flair for composition. Yet there was more to his art than shock and awe, or S&M. American was scandalised, and his celebrity (and notoriety) was assured. No one had portrayed this subculture so candidly before. His bold studies of butch macho men were revolutionary. Mapplethorpe made his name with his graphic depictions of New York’s Gay community, specifically the leather bars which occupied a secret corner of that scene. So what is it about Mapplethorpe which transfixes us? What is it about his pictures which continues to command our gaze? There are shows running in Turin, Stockholm and Montreal. There have been retrospectives of his work this year in Paris, Oslo and Los Angeles. Mapplethorpe died of an AIDS-related illness in 1989, aged just 42, but after all these years his fame – and infamy – shows no sign of fading. Photography was his autobiography - he was a participant, not a voyeur
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |