Sextreffen Forum Düsseldorf
Archived from the original on 17 January Seitensprung Portal Düsseldorf Andere Mädchen sehen: Nutten Molde, Geheime Affäre Aksu, Seitensprung Kontakt Vösendorf
Robert Mapplethorpe was a classical photographer with a great eye for form and beauty, an artist who explored the worlds he knew and lived homosexuality, sadomasochistic practices, desire for black men with keen observations into the manifestations of their existence, insights that are only shocking to those who have never been exposed to these worlds.
There is a tenderness and affection to the sequence as the couple undress, suck, kiss and embrace. In these photographs the bodies are usually shielded from scrutiny by leather and rubber but are revealing of the intentions and personalities of the people depicted in them, perhaps because Mapplethorpe was taking part in these activities himself as well as depicting them. As time progresses the work becomes more about surfaces and form, about the polished perfection of the body, about that exquisite corpse, the form of the flower.
Later work is usually staged against a contextless background see photographs below as though the artefacts have no grounding in reality, only desire. Bodies are dissected, cut-up into manageable pieces — the objectified body. Mapplethorpe liked to view the body cut up into different libidinal zones much as in the reclaimed artefacts of classical sculpture.
The viewer is seduced by the sensuous nature of the bodies surfaces, the body objectified for the viewers pleasure. The photographs reveal very little of the inner self of the person being photographed. The named body is placed on a pedestal see photograph of Phillip Prioleau below much as a trophy or a vase of flowers.
While this criticism is pertinent it still does not deny the power of these images. Anyone who saw the retrospective of his work at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney in can attest to the overwhelming presence of his work when seen in the flesh so to speak!