'Flowers' - Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Mapplethorpe has aquired great fame and notoreity from his highly-stylyzed portraits of iconic celebrities and erotic images of the male form. However Mapplethorpe also spent a great many years of his working career photographing flowers. His work on this subject is somewhat 'quieter' - His images show with great photographic skill, the simplicity and beauty of these everyday natural objects.
Robert Mapplethorpe has aquired great fame and notoreity from his highly-stylyzed portraits of iconic celebrities and erotic images of the male form. However Mapplethorpe also spent a great many years of his working career photographing flowers. His work on this subject is somewhat 'quieter' - His images show with great photographic skill, the simplicity and beauty of these everyday natural objects.
Mapplethorpe uses classic technique and a painterly approach to his floral images - They show shape, colour and texture which are the prinicples of traditional art practice. The bold tones and colour used in Maplethorpes images create stunning and striking images which go far beyond simply a shot of a flower - the way in which he captures his images brings to light the eroticism of the organic.
"He came, in time, to embrace the flower as the embodiment of all the
contradictions reveiling within. Thier sleekness, thier fullness. Humble
narcissus. Passionate zen"
contradictions reveiling within. Thier sleekness, thier fullness. Humble
narcissus. Passionate zen"
I firstly didnt see a great correlation between this collection and his homo-erotic images depicting the male body, often nude. However upon further research I began to see a direct link between the two. Although the shape and curves of the flower are softer and more subtle compared to the angular frame of the male nude, both subjects show a high degree of eroticism and sexuality. Some may argue that organic plants are the most sexualised objects on the planet - the givers of life. There is also a link between flowers and various female sexual organs (an idea explored by the work of Georgia O'Keefe)
http://www.e-marginalia.com/files/images/Hibiscus_with_Plumeria.jpg http://www.zimbio.com/The+New+York+Times/articles/ccFjdEPCxMo/Robert+Mapplethorpe+Art+acquisition+boosts
Mapplethorpes images of flowers have changed my view of traditionalist techniques to photography - as we are almost inundated in this technological age with amateurs shooting 'typically beautiful' scenes such as picturesque landscapes and bold plant life it is easy to become almost bored by these images. However Mapplethorpes stunning images are far more than a simple shot of a flower - they represent a true appreciation for the sheer awesomness of one of the oldest living organisms on the planet and the the giver of life - The humble flower.
Book Ref - Flowers:Mapplethorpe, R: Bulfinch LTD, 1990
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