Patti Smith. Robert Mapplethorpe. American artist Robert Mapplethorpe pushed the boundaries of photography in both his subject choice and technique.
This has led to him often being remembered exclusively for his controversial and often explicit images. However, ARTIST ROOMS outstanding collection of his photographs allows these ‘controversial’ works to be considered in the context of his entire oeuvre. Mapplethorpe became famous, not to say, notorious, in the 1970s and 1980s for his photographs of the male nude and sexually explicit gay imagery. With these images he tested the right to individual freedom - they were not meant to be titillating, shocking or obscene, but beautiful in a traditionally classical way.
His work therefore holds a significant place in the history of artistic struggle to depict the world as it is with honesty and truth. In 1988 Mapplethorpe stated: “I don’t like that particular word ‘shocking.’ Www.tate.org.uk/download/file/fid/12777. 'Patti Smith: The Coral Sea': Artist Pays Homage To Robert Mapplethorpe In New Exhibition (PHOTOS) A wild display of Patti Smith's multi-media art endeavors is heading to Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center next month.
Among the works on display are silver print photographs, metal hospital bed installations, and works on paper in an exhibit, titled "Patti Smith: The Coral Sea. " The show is an homage to the artist's former partner and acclaimed photographer, Robert Mapplethorpe, as well as a dark survey of her personal ruminations on death and rebirth. Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s Burial Site 1, Zōshigaya Cemetery, Tokyo, 2013.
Gelatin silver print, edition 1/10 10 x 8 inches, 25.4 x 20.33 cm. © Patti Smith. Courtesy the artist and Robert Miller Gallery. The exhibit explores the complex subject matter in two display rooms -- the white "Infirmary" and the black "Coral Sea. " On the day of the exhibit's opening, viewers will be treated to a one-night-only performance of "The Coral Sea" by Smith and her daughter, Jesse Paris Smith. Loading Slideshow. Robert mapplethorpe photos. The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Robert Mapplethorpe.
Biography[edit] Mapplethorpe was born and grew up as a Roman Catholic of English and Irish heritage in Our Lady of the Snows Parish in Floral Park, Queens, New York.
His parents were Harry and Joan Mapplethorpe and he grew up with five brothers and sisters. He studied for a B.F.A. from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he majored in graphic arts,[1] though he dropped out in 1969 before finishing his degree.[2] Mapplethorpe lived with his close friend Patti Smith from 1967 to 1974, and she supported him by working in bookstores. They created art together, and even after he realized he was homosexual, they maintained a close relationship. Mapplethorpe took his first photographs soon thereafter using a Polaroid camera.
Mapplethorpe died on the morning of March 9, 1989, 42 years old, in a Boston, Massachusetts, hospital from complications arising from AIDS. Nearly a year before his death, the ailing Mapplethorpe helped found the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Inc. Art[edit] The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation - Portfolio.