Self-Portrait – Robert Mapplethorpe

Hi Folks!

Robert Mapplethorpe said what I thought: “I want to see something I’ve never seen before.” And when I saw some of Mapplethorpe’s art, I also saw things that I had never seen before. And what you have seen, cannot be unseen. I guess that’s what bothers some uptight puritans in Robert Mapplethorpe’s art. But please, grow up. There’s nothing wrong in a bit of naked male skin. If you open your mind you may actually like it, or is that what you are afraid of. …Seriously speaking, Mapplethorpe broke taboos with his attitude and art in the 60’s and 70’s and for that I thank him. He is probably most known for his controversial photographs of naked men and male genitals with a S&M twist.  Homoeroticism in art causes seldom scandals anymore, but Mapplethorpe can still raise a few eyebrows by the cigarette in his mouth. True rebel!

-Gart