BKPhoto@aol.com
Date: 11/03/00-12:38:36 PM Z
Mapplethorpe is important as a cultural phenomenon, but much less so as a
photographer. He well illustrates the transition of fine art to popular
culture. He was the artist entertainer, as so many post modernist are, and in
that regard he excelled.
Any substantive evaluation of Mapplethorpe as a photographer would have to be
considered on more than the issues he is identified with. A well known art
critic once told me that Mapplethorpe was the most important photographer of
the second half of the 20th century because he was the only photographer that
made the critic want to know the people in the photographs. This so
accurately points to the role of desire, how we use images to complete our
fantasy.
Interesting though it may be, it tends to promote a shallow evaluation that
emphasizes self gratification above anything else (an almost perfect
definition of entertainment in the second half of the 20th century). In this
sense, Mapplethorpe was an important artist even though he was a mediocre
photographer.
Bill Kennedy
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