opening at thaddaeus ropac’s parisian gallery earlier today. it was the place to be for dior homme fans since hedi sliame curated a robert mapplethorpe exhibtion (you can already imagine the crowd). the place was full of dior homme-craving celebrities (french icon jeanne moreau, etienne daho…). slimane intelligently curated the show, not showing the usual photos of naked well hung black boys (only two white schlongs in the whole show) but several objects and works by the artist: two beautiful star mirrors, an enigmatic head in a brown stocking, a collection of necklaces created by Mapplethorpe (one eleganlty modelled in one of the photos…)… The highlight of the show was a 2005 video downstairs (you should go to the gallery just for this video): marianne faitfull flippling through a cheap portfolio of mapplethorpe photos greeting us with her funny remarks with her sexy off voice, trying to remember who’s on the picture (pretty difficult apparently…). the marianne faitfull unfortunately overpowers the other video produced by mapplethorpe on patti smith.this exhibition is a great opportunity to re-discover mapplethorpe’s work under a new light.
when fashio meets art by nn
