Last March in Thessaloniki,
at the 19th Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival,
I watched again this HBO documentary
about
Mapplethorpe’s obstinate,
manipulative
and career-driven personality.
It
combines statements from the artist himself
with interviews with his family,
his various lovers all sexes confondus,
and all subjects.
Mapplethorpe
was a catalyst and an illuminator,
but also a magnet for scandal.
From an early
age
Robert Mapplethorpe had but one goal
which he pursued:
to ‘make it’,
not
just as an artist, but also as an art celebrity.
And
he could not have picked a better time.
It
was the Manhattan of Warhol’s Factory,
of Studio 54,
following the Stonewall
riots,
it was an era of unbridled hedonistic sexuality.
His
first solo exhibition in 1976
already unveils his topics:
erotic depictions,
flowers and portraits.
He gained notoriety through his series
of explicitly
sexual photographs
from the gay sadomasochistic scene,
as well as nude pictures
of black men.
But as the film shows,
Mapplethorpe's
estate is worth over $200 million .
Dying of AIDS in 1989
made Robert worth more now
than he ever was during his
life-time.
And, strangely, this film is more
about the emperor's new clothes
than art.
Mapplethorpe became famous
around
the globe
for depicting sexuality in
graphic detail,
with a flare and
candidness rarely seen before.
His most emblematic pieces include
‘Man in Polyester Suit’ –
where his lover Milton Moore is famously showing his
large black genitalia through his trousers -,
and ‘Self-Portrait with Bullwhip’
–
where the artist
in a backward position
inserts a whip in his anus while
facing the camera.
In the film, Mapplethorpe’s eyes
are
described as “penetrating”.
He used both the naked eye
and the camera
as
pungent art devices.
And he was often penetrating his
subjects
in more than one way...
As many of them were his lovers.
Mapplethorpe was bisexual
and the American
rocker Patti Smith
was his first big love.
He authored the photography
on the
cover of the legendary album ‘Horses’,
where Smith holds a leather jacket.
Together they remain as one
of the
most creative and sublime couples of all times!
But what we see in this “picture
about the pictures”,
is that curators, critics and connaisseurs...
of art...
of art...
know
nothing
about art.
about art.
They do know a thing
about finance,
about finance,
and how to make money
out of someone-else's work.
out of someone-else's work.
It's being going on
for generations...
...and, it will continue and
thrive...
...as long as there are vast
amounts of money
to be made...
...by declaring what is [usually] rather
mediocre...
...a masterpiece.
Think: Basquiat.
Think:
Emin...no, let's not, her work is a joke.
Think: Mapplethorpe.
Okay, Robert took a few pretty
shots of flowers,
willies,
some fine portraits (of Patti mostly),
willies again,
and then stuck a whip up his back
and photographed himself!
Tasteful.
Listening to the curators gush
over
his images is...galling, embarrassing, pitiful.
Those who knew Robert
well
state that his images
meant nothing more
than the image itself...
There were no artistic
pretentions.
No high-brow indulgences...
The images were
(and will always
be)
photocopies of what Robert liked to look at,
what he liked to do.
What he couldn't do...is actually
produce his art.
He couldn't even develop or print
his own films.
So, who is the artist?
Wouldn't we like to know.
An interesting profile
of a
mediocre [amateur] photographer
whose estate is worth a fortune!
But what do we little people
know?
Absolutely nothing.
By Giulia Ghica Dobre
