Robert Mapplethorpe’s 1980s photography exhibitions caused national debate on arts funding due to their explicit and homoerotic subject matter, and although the artist died at the end of that decade his work continues to generate great interest and discussion. As Above, So Below brings together more than 40 of Mapplethorpe’s images, many rarely exhibited before, in a collection that offers a new way to look at his practice.
The exhibition title is derived from the ancient Greek concept of microcosm and macrocosm, which notes the repetition of patterns at all levels of the cosmos, from planetary to sub-atomic. Man is at the midpoint in the scale, looking both up at the bigger picture and down at the smaller systems, and from here we notice the prevalence of the golden ratio – a relationship of proportion seen in the natural world and often replicated by the great artists as an aesthetic ideal. This golden ratio, along with ideas of duality and symmetry, are found in the curated selection of images at OHWOW, Los Angeles; dive deeper into the complex theory at the gallery from 28 February to 29 March.
Frank Langella, 1984
© Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.
Used by permission.
Courtesy: OHWOW, Los Angeles.
Ron Young, 1984
© Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.
Used by permission.
Courtesy: OHWOW, Los Angeles.
Lisa Lyon, 1982
© Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.
Used by permission.
Courtesy: OHWOW, Los Angeles.
Hand in Fire, 1985
© Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.
Used by permission.
Courtesy: OHWOW, Los Angeles.
Italian Vogue, 1984
© Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.
Used by permission.
Courtesy: OHWOW, Los Angeles.
