Robert W Mapplethorpe




Robert W. Mapplethorpe




    Mapplethorpe was born in 1946 in Queens, New York, in 1963 he enrolled at an art institution called Pratt institution in 1963, this institution was influenced by many great artists such as Joseph Cornell. In 1970 he was given his first Polaroid camera by Sandy Daily. Mapplethorpe said it made him feel more honest to use a camera. Mapplethorpe was very well known for his self-portraits and for using his own image in his art. He was also very controversial including nudity, but in 1986 he was diagnosed with HIV. He continued to work until his death in 1989. 

    Mapplethorpe creates some very interesting self-images, if we look at the image above he is sitting in a chair in a pose that I see as powerful as well as thoughtful mainly because of the position of his hands and the way he is sitting while also looking proud and looking strong. I found this image above compelling because of what he is wearing. The robe that he covers himself in looks compelling for this photo with the patterns and I feel the lack of color also makes this image a very well-done one.



 
   In the image, Mapplethorpe took a self-portrait that I found very compelling because of the way that the photo was taken where he did long exposure to leave that ghost-looking face following his real face. This image is interesting because this photo was taken in 1985 before his HIV diagnosis, I thought at first this image was taken after which would have made sense to me because this image makes it look like his soul or his essence is following his body that may have been already infected with the deadly virus. 

 

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