Robert Mapplethorpe - Portraits @ SJMA

American Flag, 1977 - Fitting for this week...


Robert Mapplethorpe, Portraits is up at the San Jose Museum of Art starting Jan 29th through June 5th if you find yourself up in the Bay Area.


John Szarkowski:

"When critics don't know what to say about a good photographer who uses the camera simply and directly they say that the photographer uses the camera simply and directly. In fact, most ordinary and bad photographers also use the camera simply and directly. Even the most ambitious photographers--whether or not they are good artists--use the camera simply and directly. Robert Mapplethorpe used the camera simply and directly, but he was, alas, not really an interesting photographer."

Via