Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures is the cover subject of the new issue of Next Magazine—in not only one instance, but two! Directors Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey gave a fascinating interview to accompany the cover story as well.
Now, it is Mapplethorpe’s turn to be the subject. The prolific New York City photographer is the subject of Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato’s latest documentary. The creative forces behind production company World of Wonder, the duo are established as innovative story tellers, profiling icons Tammy Faye, Michael Alig, and Chaz Bono, to name a few.
Bailey and Barbato have turned their lens on Mapplethorpe in Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures premiering on HBO Sunday, April 4. They opened up to us about their journey on this film, living out loud and why Mapplethorpe mania has captivated us all.
How did this journey begin?
BAILEY: Well, Sheila Evans at HBO, she is the queen of all documentaries. We have made many films with her over the last couple of decades. She said, “You know you should look into Mapplethorpe.” We went off and started investigating and discovered the LACMA and Getty were planning these two huge retrospectives. We then realized if we wanted to do this we had to get on with it. It feels like we are having a Mapplethorpe moment. He would have been 70 this year. There seems to be a resurgence of interest in that time – New York in the 70’s and 80’s. Pre-internet. Pre-gentrification. Pre-AIDS. Pre-social media. People are interested in this period of history and it was a perfect moment.
I read somewhere that you said our interest in male eroticism is very heightened right now, especially in the LGBTQ community. That also feeds into this Mapplethorpe mania, right?
BAILEY: Absolutely. Yes. He was a pioneer of that. He was not afraid to be naked. To shoot explicit sexuality at a time when even though everyone in the art world was gay, a lot of people were in the closet. He was very open about it and willing to shoot photographs about that life and make people look at them as art. Not pornography.
BARBATO: In general, he is a major pioneer in the LGBT community. Where we are today, we fortunately have so many rights. There has been a huge evolution, but it’s important not to forget some of the key pioneers to get us where we are at. The ones who were pushing on the fringe, whether it’s Mapplethorpe or the drag queens. The people who aren’t necessarily – and who may never be in the mainstream. The cultural shape shifters, who from the outside in the mainstream were pushing our agenda forward in a non-overtly political way. Because as you know Mapplethorpe was not a political activist by any stretch of the imagination.
Read the rest here.
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