Mapplethorpe Book

After reading Just Kids, I wanted to see his art again. What a beautiful style and after looking at his work I realize I have seen photos of his all over. So many artists use his photos. One of my favorite is Segourney Weaver. I think of it often. David Bowie used his photo as a cover as did Patti Smith.

I enjoyed the commentary at the back discussing his dual role of artist and pornographer. We was honest in the fact he wanted an artist edge to pornography or the other way around. Some of his images are brutal, some of them are beautiful and some of them move you. He simply had an eye for light and how to capture an image. He was a remarkable man and it's been nice learning more about him.

I think of this book as a beautiful well rounded body of work. He displays the parts of life that we try and pretend don't exist. This shows that life is complex and not always pretty or comfortable and there are questions about why we do things. The good, the bad and the ugly, all here, just like life.