 Martin Maloney: Black Leather, April 17th, 2005 collage on paper, 9 7/8 x 11 inches Martin Maloney, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jack Pierson The work of Robert Mapplethorpe (New York, 1946-1989) and the history of the gallery are closely linked to one another. For more than fourteen years, the galley has both represented and supported the American photographer who, with his own single-minded view on photography, art and sexuality, has guided the art of the end of the twentieth century towards a new direction. Over the years, the gallery has put on various one-man exhibitions as well as presented the work on various other occasions. To throw some light on the work of Robert Mapplethorpe from a broader perspective - but with the gallery as starting out point - we decided to involve two young artists from the gallery in this new exhibition: Jack Pierson (*1960, Plymouth, Mass.) and Martin Maloney (*1961, London). Both artists explore, each in an indomitable way, subjects such as identity and homosexuality and show, in the framework of this three-man exhibition, a selection of their work. Sexual freedom was one of the most important social concerns in the seventies and Robert Mapplethorpe experimented to the full with what used to be viewed as aberrant sexual behaviour. Mapplethorpe did not approach the idea of sexuality as a voyeur but as someone who stood up for the acknowledgement as well as the beauty of sex. He brought to the fore in art discussion points such as identity, gender, self-expression, personal references and emotion in real time. The subjects and objects in his work were photographed in an explicit way: the self-portrait, the body, parts of the body, sexual organs and sexuality. "I do not photograph anything that I didn't experience personally", he claimed. The erotic excitement in Robert Mapplethorpe's images, that both fascinates and upsets the viewer, can be explained by the contrast between provocation and aesthetic harmony. On the one hand, Mapplethorpe openly showed the scandalous side of homosexual love; on the other, he sublimated the images by making extremely rigorous compositions, elevating the photographed bodies to a perfect beauty that refers to ancient and neo-classical sculpture. Mapplethorpe's insistence on himself resulted in a number of self-portraits in which he staged and documented his changing and diversity in time. By expressing these dynamics by means of photography, he tried to grasp his multiple identities, including all their ambiguities and contradictions. Jack Pierson approaches his work from the perspective of the photographer or the film director who records the life of his alter ego,... The notion of radical photography, bringing together elements such as identity, sexuality and social consciousness, is viewed by Pierson from a more intimate, poetical angle. His photographs of male nakedness or of himself, his word sculptures, drawings,... form a romanticized semi-autobiography of his life. Moreover, each work tells a story of love, desire, loss, hope, loneliness or glamour. Although Pierson's work can appear controversial to a conventional audience, his models always transcend their mere sexual identity. The series of "Self-portraits" that are part of the exhibition are photographic portraits of others: other men, other boys and another child. In this series, Pierson's life is presented as a metaphorical replacement, a photographic story that "virtually" sets down his life from childhood until old age. The underlying subject of the series is longing: "when it starts, how long it takes, what it says about oneself and not in the least about its maker". Peter Gefter wrote in his article in the New York Times: "However strongly we are conscious of who we are, we still continue to long for an ideal version of ourselves, ... The series of Jack Pierson's "Self portraits" are a testimonial to this and emphasize, in essence, Pierson's own erotic impulse to be as attractive as the person whom he desires, to finally become the object of his own desires." Martin Maloney makes paintings, drawings and collages on paper and vinyl about everyday life: the world that he knows and the world that he imagines. Although he assumes that every work of an artist is a self-portrait, Maloney painted a separate series of self-portraits in 2005. On the request of the gallery, he further developed the subject in a new series of collages and wrote the following comment: "When I was on my foundation course I watched a succession of teenage boys dolled up in the latest fashion in training shoes (it was always young men) paint self-portraits in an attempt to reveal their soul. These bastard love children of Van Gogh and Stanley Spencer were painted with the subject's head at a jaunty angle or arranged so that the subject stared out at the viewer in a kind of what-the-fuck-are-you-looking-menace. A carefully placed mirror at their feet reflected back the right angle of gravitas to project into their painting. Their choice of footwear probably said more them than any angst looking painting ever could. But how do you go about making a self-portrait? Have a facial, get a new flattering haircut, grow a beard or cut off an ear? All I could think of was maybe buy a full length mirror for the studio. Somehow all that seems a drag and I could imagine spending all day wishing for some body modification rather than revealing my soul like some modern day Rembrandt. When I had the first interest in my work as an artist I was asked by the gallery who wanted to do a show with me to bring in my c.v. I hunted around and bought in the c.v. I had before I was an artist. You know, the c.v. you take to part time jobs, full of work experience and life skills, the one which tells everyone you are a team player and can work well under pressure and be left unsupervised without stealing or breaking anything or spending all day on the telephone talking to your brother in Australia. I obviously got it wrong and the gallery ridiculed the document mercilessly. Had I wanted to be a secretary they screeched. Much as I wished to hand them the c.v. with all the shows I had culminating in the Guggenheim retrospective I hadn't done much more than show work in my bedroom in Brixton. Here is my series of self portraits based on the information I had on my curriculum vitae. Don't go looking for an image of me in all the paintings in a "Where's Wally?" kind of way because I might not be pictured there. Don't expect to see the painting directly describe the activity in the title. This is conceptual art not an illustration for a language-learning book. I hope from these paintings you can gain an insight into my soul and I have unwittingly revealed myself to myself but more importantly I hope I have revealed myself to you in a way more succinctly than my daily treks for four years to psychoanalyses ever could". Exhibition: 15 March - 14 April 2007 Gallery hours: Tues-Sat 12 - 6 pm Xavier Hufkens Gallery Sint-Jorisstraat 6-8 Rue Saint-Georges B-1050 Brussels Telephone +32 2 639 67 30 Fax +32 2 639 67 38 Email info@xavierhufkens.com www.xavierhufkens.com |
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