Description:
diptych; top print: image of a bare chested man standing in front of a white brick wall wearing an open black vest facing front; his face is blurry and shadowed portions are marked with hand-applied silver. Bottom print: image of a dark-haired young man with his head turned toward the left against a white brick wall. his proper left arm is held aloft and he holds a shutter release cable in his hand; shadowed portions on the cable and hair are marked with hand-applied silver.
Label Text:
Robert Mapplethorpe used black and white photography to explore seemingly paradoxical and binary relationships. In the top self-portrait, Mapplethorpe is screaming, blurred, as if shaking violently, part of his face disappearing into the white brick backdrop of his loft in New York City. In the other, he is in focus, his head turned and his arm raised gracefully, exposing the remote trigger he used to take the image. Both encapsulate his dual nature and reveal themes that are visible in his other works: good and evil, light and dark, and feminine and masculine.
- Kamala GhaneaBassiri, Bodnar Curatorial Fellow
Tags:
portraits Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+2015.71.3 |
