Two Tulips
Robert Mapplethorpe, "Tulip," 1985.
June, and flowers are everywhere. The scent outdoors has been intoxicating, even in New York City, but there’s no conveying that online — so here’s an exquisite tulip instead. It is one of a flower series Robert Mapplethorpe photographed between 1978 and his death in 1989. You can view the whole series here. Yes, Mapplethorpe makes flowers erotic, echoing the formal and sensuous work of Edward Weston. But what else is there to say about this image?
I was struck by how many of the flower images entailed twinning, two stems intertwined or two paired blossoms. These tulips are a set and they again seem to point toward a vision of sameness and difference. The flowers start from the same place in the lower left corner and grow together, but end up facing different directions. Light casts the shadow of one upon the other. Is this a metaphor? Does the title “tulip” imply this is the essential flower, the Tulip of tulips? Is this where we make a pun about two-lips? Is Mapplethorpe making a statement about nature, humanity, life? The carefully empty background divided asymmetrically in half suggests he could be. The positioning reveals the subtle presence of the thinking, feeling, imagining artist who isn’t there. Let’s leave these tulips here, where he placed them.
In: contemporary, photography, still life · Tagged with: flower, Robert Mapplethorpe
on June 9, 2010 at 11:45 am
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