Robert Mapplethorpe.
American.
Born 1946.
Died 1988.
When commenting on his childhood he said,
"I come from suburban America.
It was a very safe environment and it was a good place to come from in that it was a good place to leave."
The use of negative space against his single outstretched arm draws the eye straight toward his hand and up into the corner to his body and face.
The playful grin gives a mischievous tone to the image. Mapplethorpe in this self-portrait from 1975 has kept things very simplistic and minimalistic.
He is the sole focus and throughout his history of self-portraits he has photographed himself very much in the manner in which he appeared to live, with a lust for life and playful attitude, always exploring what he had never seen before.
The fact you can only see so much of him says much about him, what he hides and what he keeps private from the world which he allows to view him.
