For Valentine’s Day, a selection of loving embraces, with thoughts from the curators and photographers.
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<em><a href="http://www.mapplethorpe.org/" target="_blank">Robert Mapplethorpe</a>, “Embrace, 1982”/Courtesy Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation/Art + Commerce.</em><br><br>Last summer, for an exhibit called “<a href="http://www.skny.com/exhibitions/2011-05-07_robert-mapplethorpe/" target="_blank">Robert Mapplethorpe: 50 Americans</a>,” <a href="http://www.skny.com/" target="_blank">Sean Kelly Gallery</a> randomly solicited one person from each state to select which image of Mapplethorpe’s they felt was most important. The Michigan participant picked this image, explaining that “it typifies the mystery, and tragedy of human relationship. I see comfort, hope, and hopelessness all in one. I grew up in the city of Dearborn, Michigan … where there was prejudice against all races, religions and sexual orientations that were different from ‘the norm.’… This image is a poignant reminder of how far we’ve come and yet how far we still have to go.”
