Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: andy warhol, beauty, black and white, composition, homophobia, human body, patti smith, photography, polaroid, portrait, robert mapplethorpe, sexual identity, statuesque, stereotype, subtlety
how does the name “patti smith” sound to you? what would it evoke in your mind? music? barefoot? rebellious? rimbaud? horses? punk?.. on and on it keeps going in my mind. but other than all these ‘things’, a name just arises from the crowd of associations-robert mapplethorpe. and i owe this remembrance of mapplethorpe to a close friend of mine.
i met his works for the first time while i was wandering around the pictures of patti smith. most of them-taken in 70′s- belonged to robert mapplethorpe. he reflected her in a multi dimensional way which is a quite valuable and also challenging ability. i mean she does not look classically beautiful or like a distorted punk queen. subtle and sharp, masculine and feminine, pure and remarkable..all together in one simple composition. i like the togetherness of white doves and lunatic regards and wild black hair.
while observing mapplethorpe’s photographic tendencies, one comes face to face with highly varying works since in every part of his life he tried to experiment new techniques. after several series of portraits in 70′s, he headed for a “refinement of subject and an emphasis on classical formal beauty” in 80′s. in this period he focused on nude models-statuesque males and females, exquisite flower still lives. i never found the compositions with flowers to be so interesting in any part of my life, until i saw the works of mapplethorpe and the power of subtlety in these flower images.
another crucial characteristic of mapplethorpe’s work is his unique and very distinctive approach to human body. in these photographs with nude male and females, actually he declares a very clear message about sexual equality-condemning the stereotypes on sexual identity and racism. in this period-80′s- his images were judged as shocking, violent, gruesome..which exactly approved the homophobic and segregationist attitude of the society, that’s why many of his exhibitions were closed down at that time. despite all these challenges it’s really inspirational how he managed to integrate the human body in his artistic way of expressing oneself.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: absurdity, art work, atmosphere, black and white, composition, hats, Magritte, men in black, model, monochrome, mood, photography, postures, Rodney Smith
Rodney Smith is a quite influential photographer-i generally seek for the impressiveness of the atmosphere in photos, rather than merely a focus on the main figures placed on the background. i think such ability-to create a powerful mood- makes the piece more intense and catchy. and it also helps the viewer to perceive the art work in a more extensive way. Smith’s works seem really satisfying to me in this sense. i find it very attractive the way he uses absurdity, bizarre compositions, unusual postures, lack of diverse colors.
and i also like – the way that the models are rarely looking at us.
– the fact that the men in black with trilby hats remind me of several paintings of René Magritte/my favorite ones.
– the photos that seem to be a little distant/ but still -weirdly amusing..
enjoy the domination of a monochromic world.
(i added some paintings of Magritte as well, since some kind of analogy is made)
www.rodneysmith.com
