Monday night 4/4 HBO takes a look at the work of Robert Mapplethorpe

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/01/arts/ … .html?_r=0

Gonna watch ?

I kain't  .  .  .  my mom won't lemme look at "those" kinda pitchers  .  .  .    Should be an interesting show, so much controversy at the time, wouldn't miss it  .  .  .

SOS

Absolutely.

I would but no HBO

Not a fan. Won't be tuning in.

I would watch the program but don't have HBO.

I'm a big fan of Mapplethorpe, from an era when photography was art.

HBO offers on-demand now.  https://order.hbonow.com/

I would watch but it's not available here.  He was pretty famous around the time I was working for art galleries in the 80s.  He was definitely one of the gods of photography back then.

For those who have HBO, the show debuts tonight at 9pm. EST

Thanks for the info.

They were exceptionally close, each being each others first real loves.  They were highly devoted to each other for years.  In a way, each was somewhat responsible for the other's success.  If you have a digital reader or tablet, you can buy the e-book on Amazon (as well as the printed version).

His biography was a good read & pretty cheap on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Mapplethorpe-Biog … pplethorpe

I finally caught that show.  Some thoughts, in random order:

...  I think he was a photographic influence on me, certainly later on (I started photography in the 60s).  Some of those portraits from "Some Women" inspired me to consider doing some studio portraiture.  His photo of Susan Sarandon was a particular favorite.

...  For me, his homoerotic S&M images were difficult to look at.  At the same time, many of Diane Arbus' photos were difficult to look at, too, and Arbus was / is a significant influence for me.

...  He didn't set out to "make" art; he set out to "live" art, and his photography had a lot to do with his life.  I remember when I was just getting started -- I carried my camera everywhere, and I was always snapping pictures of the people & places around me.  Now, I do carry my camera everywhere, but it tends to stay in the camera bag too much, even though digital images are so much easier to process.  Today, I'm planning to strap my camera to my wrist & not return home until I make X number of exposures.  Wish me luck.

...  I remember the chaos of the government working hard to shut his shows down, even including the discussions in Congress.  I remember forming the opinion:  If you don't like it, you don't have to look at it.  Nobody was surprised by his homoerotic images when they went to a gallery show -- if you didn't want to see those images, they were exceedingly easy to avoid.  But who has the right to say "This is Art" and "This is not Art"?  Who has the right to decide what I can or can't look at.

...  I remember the 70s & 80s.  Then, homosexuality was almost universally considered a perversion, and in many places, it was considered a crime.  To a lesser extent, this is still true.  I, however, knew gay people in college and I respected them enough to keep my nose out of their bedrooms.  It's not like I'm impacted by who two other people choose to love.  It still makes me sad.

...  I think it was people like Mapplethorpe who inspired me to think about whether sexually explicit photographs can be made with artistic aesthetics.  It's a challenge.

Mapplethorpe lived a hard life, which was over too soon. 

I'd rate the show a "B-" -- I think it focused a lot on his homosexuality and not enough on his flowers & portraits.  But it was educational.

Well stated & good luck on making your X number of images each day. I strive for one a day.

I noticed one of his models in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRgj3hJr7cA

Fascinating, thank you for sharing.

It was a rather amazing look at a remarkable artist.

Considering that there were, and probably still are, those who say that his work was not art, but I don't now how anyone who actually understands and appreciates art cannot look at this presentation and see it any differently.

I wish, I hope, younger generations could look at something like this and reflect a bit more on the 70's and 80's , and look at just how remarkably this country has changed, but sadly, in many ways this country has not changed at all, especially in terms of prejudices.

Thank goodness we are having these documentaries.   

Not just from an artistic standpoint, I would love to see more people watch and find a greater appreciation, as we need to find more appreciation for humanity, for our artists, for creative souls even when too many will judge with closed minds and rationalizations of discrimination and censorship.

Totally worth watching, and I truly hope many of the 20-somethings will watch.

I especially loved the examples of the attention to detail, and photography being sculpture.

Remarkable.

I wished the film was longer.  There is a lot more detail in the book, Assault with a Deadly Camera.  Imagine a time when producing a few dirty pictures caused a stir in Washington D.C.  I can only hope to one day cause that much trouble.  Looking back on those photographs I can't imagine what all the excitement was about.  Someone started the rumor that tax dollars were going to support him when Mapplethorpe never took a dime of NEA grant money.

The most depressing part was that the value of his work didn't really start to increase until he was diagnosed terminally ill.

I was in a gallery in NYC and saw first-hand Man In Polyester Suit.  It wasn't signed or numbered, selling for under $2k.  I thought for a long while about buying it but couldn't afford it at the time.

Y'know -- I was thinking about this a bit -- consider this a tangent.

Mapplethorpe didn't photography models -- he photographed his friends & lovers.  He didn't play at homoerotic S&M -- that was how he expressed his sexual self. 

I remember, in my youth, that I carried my camera all over the place, and I photographed the people I was hanging out with.  At some point, that wasn't enough, and instead of photographing friends & lovers, I transitioned to photographing models.  I wonder -- did my photography suffer because of that unconscious decision?

Thoughts?