The Fussy Eye: Instant Gratification

Exploring early Mapplethorpe at the Henry.

A A A Comments By Brian Miller Wednesday, Nov 4 2009

Robert Mapplethorpe Fdn.

Details

Henry Art Gallery, 15th Ave. N.E. & N.E. 41st St., 543-2280. $6–$10. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Thurs.–Fri., 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Sat.–Sun. Ends Jan. 31.

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Shooting with a Polaroid, as Robert Mapplethorpe gradually learned to do in the early '70s, meant that the first draft was the final draft, the sketch the finished product. In these 90 small, black-and-white squares, you can see him searching for his own style. Mainly, however, he's copying others: shooting statuary or posing half-naked friends like statues. The still lifes and NYC rooftops seem borrowed from the f/64 school: Weston, Kertész, and company. Most shots are casual portraits of friends—some later famous, like Patti Smith, some just afternoon quickies. Mapplethorpe's promiscuous eye seems interested in everything: flowers, shoes, cigarette packs, telephones, a coiled vacuum-cleaner hose, even a pair of bats owned by fellow artist Helen Marden hanging upside-down in their cage. The images are better suited to catalog-flipping than walls. The lighting and composition are often amateurish; but then, so was Mapplethorpe (1946–89) at the time. He would refine his skills during the second half of the '70s with a conventional view camera. Then came the '80s notoriety of his polished erotica. What these early Polaroids have is an intimate, in-the-moment proximity to their subjects. There's no distance from the photographer when using such a crude lens. For that reason, one of my favorite images here is a self-portrait of Mapplethorpe's own crossed feet, cuddled together like naked lovers.