February 2013
Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989)
Just as the Devil was once a top-ranking Angel who fell from grace, so too does a bad artist always hide a talented individual who stumbled. The photographers who have occupied my attention enough to criticize them are, almost without exception, talented. Otherwise, they would merely be uninteresting.
Thus, in the 1980s, Robert Mapplethorpe started creating with the best omens, but along the way, he chose to flatter the critics and the audience, putting his talent in service of this purpose. Unfortunately, however talented and intelligent someone may be, it's impossible to satisfy multiple goals simultaneously. Goals always have a priority order, whether intentional or not, and achieving them is based on this hierarchy. However, since the first goal in the order often conflicts with subsequent ones, it must be given more weight, and its achievement should hold the greatest significance for the artist. Otherwise, the tragic confession of the great Picasso, who referring to his later years said that "he was nothing more than a public entertainer, who understood his time and appeased the stupidity, vanity, and greed of his contemporaries as much as he could," is confirmed. Because these qualities are common and enduring characteristics of the majority, the risk for the artist is ever-present.
The most common mistake that a photographer can make (even with the best intentions) is trying to clarify and specify the content of their photographs to make their work more accessible and appealing to the audience (with the usual characteristics mentioned above). To achieve this, they might use accompanying text or, even better, the photograph itself. In this case, their talent is especially useful. That's probably why we don't often see truly bad photography from genuinely untalented photographers. But in doing so, they distance themselves from their truth, which is, and must be, complex, internal, abstract, and inaccessible, even to themselves. Creation should remain for the artist a question mark and a process of discovery that does not lead to answers. Conversely, the majority of the audience seeks answers and despises the questions.
The strongest argument revealing this artistic misstep is usually found in the study of the photographers' own work, between what they were capable of doing and what they chose to do. And it's almost always clear that the most slogan-like and therefore the most superficial photography of theirs is what secures their fame, while simultaneously distancing them from their own truth and quality.
Many arguments have been made for and against Mapplethorpe's work. Most were either unfounded or, mostly, artistically uninteresting. However, comparing his two self-portraits, from his youth (1) and his artistic maturity (2), demonstrates that the main argument against him is that he turned his back on truth, depth, and substance, choosing the obvious, the superficial, and the slogans. A masterful photograph gave way to a simplistic illustration.
Plato Rivellis