At first glance, the photographs of Ralph Gibson and those of Robert Mapplethorpe appear to have little in common. Gibson (b. 1939) is a graduate of the school of "straight photography" (the term applies to a classic approach, not one's sexual orientation, although further differences between the two artists could be explored here). On the other hand, Mapplethorpe, who died of AIDS in 1989 at age 42, is regarded as perhaps the most controversial photographer of our times, a man whose irreverent lifestyle and homoerotic nudes ignited in America a series of protests and debates about censorship and arts funding that raged through the late 1980s and early 1990s.
It is curious therefore, at first glance anyway, to find the two lensmen paired up in "Light and Shadow -- Ralph Gibson and Mapplethorpe," an exhibition now showing at the Itochu Gallery, just off Aoyama Street in Tokyo's Minato Ward.
There are five black-and-white Mapplethorpe flower studies here, and 16 color works by Gibson. As most people are familiar with Mapplethorpe's work through reproductions, one of the best reasons to go and see one of the artist's shows is to examine original prints. However, sadly only two of the pictures in the exhibition are actual prints, the other three being photogravure blowups that just don't have the resolution or gray tones to match good-old-fashioned silver gelatins. Consequently, the Gibson photographs, all of which are original artist's editions from his 1990 series "The History of France," may be of more interest.