MovieChat Forums > Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures (2016) Discussion > The Most Telling Thing...

The Most Telling Thing...

posted 8 years ago by eholzapfel26
2 replies | jump to latest

When they talk about how Mapplethorpe hooked up with some older rich gay guy. Basically, Robert became the guy's boy toy in exchange for money (a.k.a. a whore) and the guy became Robert's Sugar-Daddy.

Someone in the documentary says how if this rich dude hadn't bought Robert's way into the art world, then no one would have ever heard of Mapplethorpe.

That pretty much sums it up.
It's the story of the Emperor's New Clothes.

If you have enough money to buy your way into the right galleries and wrap it up in expensive mats & frames, then you can convince the ridiculous art speculators who make up the "art world" that a bunch of gay porn photos are "art" that's worth millions of dollars.

Congratulations to Robert Mapplethorpe for capitalizing on the utter ignorance & lemming mentality of humanity.

I'd do the same with my artwork, but my ethics preclude me from trying to fraud people into thinking something that isn't all that special (or is just porn) is actually "art" with ridiculous monetary value.

[–] andyvanm 8 years ago

Amen,he used people and he was destructive and it finally killed him...He did have talent but for the most part his art was nothing more than rehashed porn through the eyes of a drug abuser....and A sadist megalomaniac .

[–] propaganda21 7 years ago

It did seem strange because normally artists are discover for their work firstly but with Mapplethorpe his work seemed unremarkable and secondary to his life story. It's almost as though he picked up a camera for art for art's sake and the work became much hyped after his death. Something about all of his work seems hollow, posed, contrived and based on shock values (which have greatly diminished today with free online porn).

Disappointing that he didn't even seem like a likeable person with words like 'hustler' and 'manipulator' being thrown around...