Marking the sixth edition of Selby Gardens’ annual Jean & Alfred Goldstein Exhibition Series, which explores the work of major artists through the lens of their connection to nature, the exhibition presents a selection of Mapplethorpe’s iconic photographs of orchids, hyacinths and irises, and Smith’s poems on flowers and nature as well as her music, in dialogue with new horticultural installations inspired by the two artists’ work. “The flowers capture ‘the peak of bloom,’ as one scholar put it, but all of his work distills the essence of his subject.”
“According to the artist, they were not different from his portraits or nudes,” Ockman said. He approached photographing flowers the same way he did people. “Through flowers, he explored the contradictions at the heart of his work: light and dark, symmetry and asymmetry, the sacred and the profane, and life and death.” “Mapplethorpe explained, ‘I started with flowers because it was a way of learning photography without putting people through a lot of problems,’” Carol Ockman, Selby Gardens Curator-at-Large and Robert Sterling Clark Professor of Art History Emerita at Williams College, told. Marie Selby Botanical Gardens and Cliff Roles Photography 'Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith: Flowers, Poetry, and Light' installation view at Marie Selby. He photographed her for many of her album covers, including 1975’s Horses, which went on to achieve iconic status. Through their relationship, Smith would become one of Mapplethorpe’s most frequent sitters.
So, I’d have to let go of (writing) for months and months.” “It made me miss him,” Smith told “Interview Magazine.” “Sometimes I’d remember the atmosphere of our youth with such clarity that it hurt. It took 20 years to complete because the pain brought upon by remembering their years together and Mapplethorpe’s tragic death was often too much for her to bear. Just Kids was published in 2010 following a death bed promise from Smith to Mapplethorpe that she would write an account of their time together. Robert and Patti’s relationship with each other and the relationship of flowers to their work are unique stories of two of the most influential artists of our time.” While flowers and nature may not be the first things people think of upon hearing these artists’ names, they are a fundamental inspiration for, and subject of, their work. “Then, I read Patti Smith’s memoir Just Kids about her relationship with Mapplethorpe and realized she had to be part of this show. “When I first came to Selby Gardens in 2015, I made a list of artists who I thought should be featured in a botanical garden setting, but had never been before Robert Mapplethorpe was on that list because of his iconic flower photographs,” President and CEO of Selby Gardens Jennifer O.
0 kommentar(er)
