During his life – and even beyond his death in 1989 – the late Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographs were never without controversy. His black-and-white depictions of the gay New York subculture of the 1970s and 80s have been deemed indecent, pornographic, racist and exploitative – but also immaculately executed, visceral, beautiful and profound.
Decades later, Mapplethorpe is having his LA moment with 'Robert Mapplethorpe: In Search of Perfection', a sprawling retrospective spanning not one, but two museums, LACMA and The Getty Center. Coinciding with these is West Hollywood gallery Moran Bondaroff’s ‘Dark and Light,’ which opened last week and runs until late June.
While Mapplethorpe’s many subjects included lovers, celebrities and female bodybuilders, ‘Dark and Light’ zeroes in on Mapplethorpe’s fascination with the black male body, another point of controversy in his career. He was accused of fetishising his subjects, portraying black men as anonymous and overtly sexualised, but these photographs cover a range of expressions – neoclassical in addition to erotic poses, and even smiling portraits, fully clothed.
‘I tried to balance these bodies,’ ‘Dark and Light’ curator Vince Aletti explains; in this show, these are also sometimes white, female and, in one instance, pregnant. They're interspersed with ‘other pictures that help define Mapplethorpe’s hungry and brilliantly idiosyncratic eye’, with ‘a vase of flowering branches in the dappled sun, Fran Lebowitz with a half-finished cigarette... a magnificently pregnant belly’, among them.
‘For me, it was like rediscovering what I love about Mapplethorpe,' Aletti continues. ‘His love of light and texture and the shape within the frame, and no matter how sexy it is, his classical approach to the body.’
Although the artist was accused of fetishising his subjects, the photographs here cover a wide range of expressions; neoclassical in addition to erotic poses, and even smiling portraits, fully clothed
‘I tried to balance these bodies,’ ‘Dark and Light’ curator Vince Aletti explains; in this show, these are also sometimes white, female and, in one instance, pregnant. Pictured: Chest / Livingston, 1987
Pictured: Rick / Torso, 1987
‘For me, it was like rediscovering what I love about Mapplethorpe,’ Aletti continues. ‘His love of light and texture and the shape within the frame, and no matter how sexy it is, his classical approach to the body.’
The more erotic portraits are juxtaposed by neoclassical poses (and even smiling portraits, fully clothed).Pictured: Female Torso, 1978
Pictured: Lowell Smith, 1981
INFORMATION
’Dark and Light’ is on view until 25 June. For more details, please visit Moran Bondaroff’s website
Photography: Liz Barclay. Courtesy Moran Bondaroff and Mapplethorpe Foundation
ADDRESS
Moran Bondaroff
937 N. La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, California
-
New York photography show sees cultural icons – from David Hockney to Maya Angelou – in unguarded moments‘Face to Face’ at New York’s International Center of Photography (27 January – 1 May 2023) sees cultural icons shot by Tacita Dean, Brigitte Lacombe and Catherine Opie
-
Inez & Vinoodh on 35 years of radical photography, being ‘two brains, one person', and judging our Design AwardsDutch photography duo and Wallpaper* Design Awards 2023 judges Inez & Vinoodh discuss image manipulation, design aspirations, and capturing the legendary Julianne Moore
-
A poignant exploration of the lives of transgender and gender non-conforming older peopleTo celebrate Pride Month 2022, we revisit photographer Jess T Dugan’s series of intimate portraits of transgender adults over 50, first explored by Wallpaper* in this 2020 article on the occasion of an exhibition at Minneapolis Institute of Art
-
Chris Levine on creating his iconic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II: ‘I was the wild card’For the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, we spoke to artist Chris Levine about the making of his iconic hologram portraits of Her Majesty. He reflects on two years of preparation, that fateful day in Buckingham Palace, and Lightness of Being, the outtake that almost outshone the original
-
Serge Attukwei Clottey on fashion, gender, and unexpected artIn captivating new portraits for ‘Beyond Skin’, Ghanaian artist Serge Attukwei Clottey explores fashion as identity and subverts antiquated ideas of gender and sexuality
-
Aya Brown’s portraits are love letters to Black female essential workersArtist Aya Brown’s portrait series featuring Black female essential workers is currently on display across nine bus stops in Brooklyn, in collaboration with Virgil Abloh’s Public Domain project
-
Masked artist series raises money for art therapyGrayson Perry, Jenny Saville and Camille Walala are photographed for a new portrait series by Joanna Vestey, in support of art therapy charity AT The Bus
-
‘I see portraiture as a means to impart a social commentary’Self-taught Nigerian painter Eniwaye Oluwaseyi addresses #EndSARS in his debut show at ADA gallery in Accra
