Dimensions: support: 341 x 341 mm
Copyright: © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: Robert Mapplethorpe's photograph, "Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter," part of the Tate collection, immediately strikes me with its stark chiaroscuro. The textures—leather, skin, chain—are palpable. Editor: Absolutely, and that's precisely what makes it so striking. It’s impossible to separate this image from its historical context: gay subculture at a time of great repression and the emerging AIDS crisis. Curator: The composition, with its rigorous geometry, lends a classical feel to what might otherwise be seen as transgressive subject matter. Note how the lines of the curtains echo the verticality of the figures. Editor: Yet these men, adorned in leather and chains, challenge normative notions of masculinity and power, reclaiming agency in a society that marginalized them. It's a potent statement about identity and resistance. Curator: Mapplethorpe's formalism elevates his subjects, imbuing them with a timeless quality. Editor: And by engaging with their sexuality and subculture, he forces us to confront our own biases and assumptions. This image is a call for visibility and acceptance.
Comments
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mapplethorpe-brian-ridley-and-lyle-heeter-ar00196
Join the conversation
Join millions of artists and users on Artera today and experience the ultimate creative platform.
In this black and white square-format double photographic portrait two leather-clad men, identified in the title as Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter, are situated in a living room. The two men are positioned in the centre of the photograph. Ridley is seated in a leather wingback armchair, with chains attached to his ankles and wrists. He is shackled to Heeter, who stands to his left, resting his right elbow on the armchair and lightly grasping in his right hand the chain attached to the leather collar around Ridley’s neck. Both figures are wearing leather jackets, trousers and boots. Heeter is also wearing a leather cap, and holds in his left hand a riding crop which rests upon the armchair pointing down towards Ridley’s crotch. Ridley sits with his legs wide open and his hands resting in his lap, while Heeter stands casually above him with his right leg crossed in front of his left. Ridley and Heeter both fix the camera with intense stares. The room in which they are depicted has all the features of a conventional living room, including curtains, venetian blinds, an oriental carpet, an ornamental clock and a table lamp. The lamp, which is on, projects Heeter’s shadow onto the wall behind Ridley.
CollectMore like this
