Day 4: Joe Bobowicz

Untitled, image from Robert Mapplethorpe: Early Works 1970-1974 (New York: Robert Miller Gallery) A work that is simplistic, transgressive and smart. Known most famously for his photographic works, Mapplethorpe would often depict taboo subjects with technical excellence; this would garner otherwise unlikely appreciation. In this case he looked to the sculptural capabilities of a garment loaded with sexual connotations, endowing it with a new mode of appeal.

Untitled, image from Robert Mapplethorpe: Early Works 1970-1974 (New York: Robert Miller Gallery) The bricolage and cut-up framing in this work helps deconstruct the male form, forcing one to appreciate the various facets individually.

Signed poster from The Beard Pictures and their Fuckosophy, White Cube Bermondsey This sits next to my bed and thus, it is the first thing I see when I wake. I rarely find art humorous, but Gilbert & George are an exception to this rule.

ES Magazine, 10 November 2017, Gilbert and George collector’s edition One of the things that has long fascinated me about Gilbert & George is their characters. The nudity, open homosexuality and satire that peppers their art seems at odds with how they present themselves as people; tweed suits and royalism juxtaposing the vulgar and explicit content of their work. I suspect the contrast is intentional. Julian Stallabrasas writes in High Art Lite ‘For that artist-duo, persona was all-important, and inseparable from the art in which they appear. Gilbert and George were important examples in their manipulation of and provocation of the media, their ambivalent attitude to political correctness (highly-conservative in their image and their statements but not above complaining of gay-bashing when they were attacked for those views), in their overt populism and in the performative aspect of their art.’

Gilbert and George x JW Anderson capsule collection (photo: Alasdair McLellan) This collaboration received mixed reviews; I for one loved it. Anderson, like Gilbert & George is a keen deployer of tension, his collections probing topics of masculinity, heritage and conformity.

Untitled, image from Robert Mapplethorpe: Early Works 1970-1974 (New York: Robert Miller Gallery) When I view this work time stops (for a bit). The soft and pensive subject amidst the plaid background calms me. At first glance it is stylistically incongruent to the artist’s preceding works, however with time one notices the Mapplethorpe giveaways: framing and perfectionism. The work seamlessly harmonises a patterned background with the male figure. ‘I am obsessed with beauty. I want everything to be perfect, and of course it isn’t. And that’s a tough place to be because you’re never satisfied.’ - Robert Mapplethorpe.

Untitled, image from Robert Mapplethorpe: Early Works 1970-1974 (New York: Robert Miller Gallery) The layering of jockstraps in this work brings to mind the work of Craig Green. Like Mapplethorpe, Green bridges the intersection of garment and sculpture.

Craig Green in a queer anthology of rage, compiled and edited by Richard Porter

Untitled, 1987, Keith Haring, steel and lacquer sculpture installation I came across this work by chance when passing through Postdamer Platz, Berlin. It looks very similar to Haring’s Art Attack on AIDS, 1988, a screenprint on paper. It could be postulated that the sculpture (known colloquially as ‘The Boxers’) was an alert to the art world of the HIV virus coiling its way through the scene. Sure, for some it was already too late but carriers could still prevent transmission with protection - a message Haring pushed in works such as Safe Sex, 1987. Art as activism is key, even today when you consider that sex education across the globe still caters solely to heteronormative ideals - a factor that negates us from existence both literally and representatively.

Matthew Collins in a queer anthology of rage, compiled and edited by Richard Porter In this work one is reminded of the violence we have faced and of our gradual healing process. Every now and then a plaster is ripped to remind us we are not completely safe.