Offensive. Irreverent. Lurid. Debased. Risky. Obscene. Indecent. Degenerate. Vulgar. Debauched. Depraved. Lewd. These are just some of the words critics used to describe art that, well, just doesn’t cut if for mainstream audiences.
For example, some of these words were used to describe the late Robert Mapplethorpe’s photography, a kind of image making that leaned heavily on the side of explicit homoeroticism. In 1988, Washington, D.C.’s Corcoran gallery showed a collection of more than 150 of Mapplethorpe’s works in a retrospective dubbed “The Perfect Moment.” Unfortunately, contrary to the title, some saw the depictions of sex as nothing more than “dirty pictures.” Former Republican Senator Jesse Helms was among them. He especially didn’t care for the fact that funding from the National Endowment for the Arts had helped launch the Mapplethorpe exhibition.
A visitor looks at photographs by US photographer Robert Mapplethorpe during the Paris Photo Fair held at the Grand Palais on November 12, 2014 in Paris, France. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)
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Below is a preview of “Irreverent,” which will be on view at Leslie-Lohman in New York City from February 13 to May 3, 2015. For more on the history of Leslie-Lohman, check out our profile on the institution here.
This exhibition will be the featured exhibition of the Queer Art Caucus of the College Art Association ‘s 2015 national convention scheduled in New York in February. A panel will be presented on the exhibition at the conference.
