PRESS RELEASE
Weinstein Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe. Ken & Lydia is our second Mapplethorpe show, and all the work presented in the exhibition has been made available by the Mapplethorpe Foundation.
One of the most controversial, and ultimately canonized, artists of our time, Robert Mapplethorpe died in 1989 at the age of forty-two. This exhibition includes 19 photographs of two of Robert Mapplethorpe’s most photographed models: Ken Moody and Lydia Cheng. Ken Moody was a physical trainer and Mapplethorpe used his striking physique as a way to demonstrate color and form, photographing him regularly between 1983-1985. Mapplethorpe’s interest in the tonal properties of black and white, and juxtaposition more generally, is also highlighted in the photographs he took of Ken Moody paired with Robert Sherman, a model with alopecia. Lydia Cheng was also an ideal model for Mapplethorpe’s sculptural approach to portraiture. He took a keen interest in photographing her figure, almost always photographing her from the neck down.
It is nearly impossible to overestimate the impact of Robert Mapplethorpe’s work, both artistically and socially. He is unquestionably considered one of the most important photographers of the twentieth century and his work has been the subject of numerous retrospectives and books. His photographs are exhibited and collected worldwide.