Art Talk
Janet Jackson vs. Robert Mapplethorpe
Art reviews from art critics Edward Goldman and Hunter Drohojowska-Philp.
By Edward Goldman • • 4m ListenJanet Jackson vs. Robert Mapplethorpe
Do you remember the times - seems a century ago - when the controversy over Robert Mapplethorpe's photographs,
There is an astonishing, luminescent portrait of the aging painter Alice Neil, with eyes closed and waves of silver hair framing her face like a halo. There is also a wonderfully moody portrait of William Burrows in a pose reminiscent of Rodin's, "Thinker". The weakest part of the selection is the color photographs of flowers, merely tasteful, the way one might describe the work of an interior decorator eager to please. But the rest of the show is first rate. The stand-out is the B&W photo of a tattered American flag, harshly lit from behind, as it billows in the air. This poetic and poignant image reverberates especially strong in light of continuing political and cultural wars that are consuming our country.
And just in case you were wondering, Mapplethorpe's famously infamous nude self-portrait is there too. But now, a quarter of a century later, it reads quite differently, as if the artist, with a sardonic smile on his face, is turning to us and saying, "up yours!"-and then waits for our reaction.
Robert Mapplethorpe: Pictures, Pictures
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