The strength of Robert Mapplethorpe at Xavier Hufkens



Last Thursday we went to Xavier Hufkens opening of Martin Maloney, Robert Mapplethorpe and Jack Pierson exhibition. Again, I felt invaded by the restrained power, desire of Mapplethorpe´s work.

"I went into photography because it seemed like the perfect vehicle for commenting on the madness of today's existence." 
Robert Mapplethorpe

Born and grew up as a Roman Catholic in Our Lady of the Snows Parish in Floral Park, Long Island, New York, Mapplethorpe took his first photographs soon thereafter, using a Polaroid camera. In the mid-1970s, he acquired a large-format press camera and began taking photographs of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, including artists, composers, socialites, but it wasn't until he met Benjamin Green the pornographic film star, that he truly became inspired to push the envelope of sexuality and photographing the human body. From that moment, he refined his photographs with an emphasis on formal beauty. He concentrated on statuesque male and female nudes, delicate flower still lifes, and formal portraits of artists and celebrities.

 

Mapplethorpe did not approach the idea of sexuality as a voyeur but as someone who stood up for the acknowledgement as well as the beauty of sex. His images, revealing the sexual subculture in which he partook, are intended to be about intimacy, not violence. The artist himself commented, "For me, S&M means sex and magic, not sadomasochism. It is all about trust." Mapplethorpe's penchant for "sexual wonders" and "erotic monstrosities" reveals the mysterious—and to some, disturbing—qualities of human sexuality.

His muscular male models were generally framed against plain backdrops, sometimes engaged in sexual activity or posed with sadomasochistic props such as leather and chains. His clear, unflinching style challenged viewers to confront this imagery. Moreover, the combination of his choice of subject matter with the photographs' formal beauty and grounding in art-historical traditions created what many saw as a tension between pornography and art.

More Info:

Martin Maloney, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jack Pierson
15 March – 14 April 2007

Xavier Hufkens, 
rue Saint-Georges 6-8,
1050 Brussels.
Phone: 32.2.639.67.30