Mapplethorpe: perfection
Retrospective at Kunsthal Museum, Rotterdam
A glorious retrospective of the works of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989) is currently showing at The Kunsthal Museum, Rotterdam, Netherlands. Over 200 objects are on display, focusing on what the artist called “perfection in form.”
The exhibition follows Mapplethorpe’s development over nearly two decades of work, from his beginnings creating collages using images from gay porn magazines, to his portraits of friends and acquaintances—his girlfriend and muse Patti Smith was a frequent model—to his intense self-portraits of an artist as a libidinous, young man.
Sex, and the S&M subculture he discovered while living in New York City, is at the center of much of his work. His shockingly overt images, however, often subjugate the fact that his photographs are absolutely flawless renditions of the human body in its most sculptural form. At once sensual, sensitive, and at times brutal, which can be seen in his fascination with sexual fetishism, Mapplethorpe’s work remains undeniably controversial. An opportunity to see so much of it in one space is a gift one should not pass up.
Robert Mapplethorpe a perfectionist is up through August 27, 2017.
