IMPLICIT TENSIONS: MAPPLETHORPE NOW

January 2019 - January 2020
IMPLICIT TENSIONS: MAPPLETHORPE NOW
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/mapplethorpe

Thirty years after his death, the Guggenheim Museum in New York will hold a year-long exhibition celebrating the renowned photographer and artist Robert Mapplethorpe.
The first part of Implicit Tensions (January 25–July 10, 2019) features highlights from the Guggenheim’s in-depth Mapplethorpe holdings, including early Polaroids, collages, and mixed-media constructions; iconic, classicizing photographs of male and female nudes; floral still lifes; portraits of artists, celebrities, and acquaintances; explicit depictions of New York’s underground S&M scene; and searingly honest self-portraits.
The second part of Implicit Tensions (July 24, 2019–January 5, 2020) will address Mapplethorpe’s complex legacy in the field of contemporary art. A focused selection of his photographs will be on view alongside works by artists in the Guggenheim’s collection, including Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Lyle Ashton Harris, Glenn Ligon, Zanele Muholi, Catherine Opie, and Paul Mpagi Sepuya.