Robert Mapplethorpe and Pattie Smith: Flowers, Poetry and Light
Location: Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota, FL
Date: February 2022
Guest Curator: Carol Ockman
Services Provided: Exhibition Design, Fabrication Support
Excerpt from Marie Selby Botanical Garden Press Release:
"Selby Gardens is thrilled to bring together this curated selection of nature-inspired works by Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith for the first time ever in a botanical garden as part of our innovative Goldstein Exhibition Series,” said Jennifer Rominiecki, President & CEO of Selby Gardens. “Marking the first time that Selby Gardens has presented the work of a living artist and a contemporary photographer in the series, this exhibition creates an immersive experience for our visitors, where our gardens and floral displays set the stage for a unique cultural encounter and exchange with two of the most iconic artists of our time.”
Mapplethorpe and Smith met the day that Smith moved to New York City in the summer of 1967. Their enduring relationship, through which the two spent time as artistic collaborators, lovers, and ultimately friends, proved formative to each other’s creative practice and artistic output. Flowers, Poetry, and Light reunites Mapplethorpe and Smith in a garden setting, presenting works by each inspired by nature during the counterculture movements of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
Selby Gardens’ Conservatory, world renowned for its collection of orchids and bromeliads, will be reimagined as Mapplethorpe’s photography studio, complete with drop cloths and lights that will spotlight and frame living flowers, following the principles of balance and classicism embraced by the photographer. In the Museum of Botany & the Arts, a curatorial exploration of Mapplethorpe’s aesthetic strategies, influences, and practices will unfold in an exhibition display designed to evoke the artist’s apartment, featuring four iconic flower photographs by Mapplethorpe, from the Graphic Studio gravures including Orchid, Irises, and Hyacinths, as well as two bust-length photographs of Ken Moody, one of Mapplethorpe’s most photographed subjects, holding an apple and palm frond respectively. The installation will also include archival photos and period furnishings. Throughout the grounds and gardens, installations of floral displays inspired by these seminal photographs will be accompanied by a poetry walk of works by Patti Smith, excerpting verses from her poems and songs to provide moments of reflection within the garden and underscore the rich symbolism of flowers as the fruits of life, enticement, and rebirth.."
About the Museum Design:
The goal for this exhibit was to utilize elements of the existing architecture while also designing a wall and case system that would abandon the 1930’s residential aesthetic for a design that is influenced by the sumptuous curves of the flowers in Mapplethorpe’s still life photographs on display in the exhibit. The colors, mostly black and dark gray were a nod to the punk rock pallet alive and inhabited by Robert and Patti in 1970’s and 80’s New York, when the two were roommates and friends there. This architectural interplay between the real and the imagined is intended to emphasize the fantastical nature of Smith and Mapplethorpe’s works of that time.
Scrim was also used, to an ethereal effect, as a medium in a series of portraits of Patti Smith by Lynn Goldsmith in the Entrance Gallery. A similar approach to photographs taken by Mapplethorpe were also used in the Sun Porch space.
Photo Credit: