Locked-down

I’ve tried to stay as upbeat as possible during lockdown but this week has been particularly tough. I’m barely sleeping and I’m missing people badly.

Still, I’m pressing on with my reinterpretations (aka shocking rip-offs...) of other people’s pictures. I’m even re-using the same chair that I used for last weekend’s picture.

This is my homage to Robert Mapplethorpe’s portrait, ‘Bruce Mailman, 1981’ You can see the original at www.mapplethorpe.org/exhibitions/2013-12-13_sean-kelly-gallery/

Today’s song is by Mapplethorpe’s great friend, soulmate and collaborator, Patti Smith. I’ve been listening to ‘Paths That Cross’, from her 1988 album ‘Dream of Life’, a lot this weekend. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cln_1lthtC0 It was written for Mapplethorpe’s partner, Sam Wagstaff, who died of AIDS-related complications in 1987; Bruce Mailman had died similarly in 1984, and Mapplethorpe himself would die in 1989.

It’s a beautiful song and I find it helpful, hopeful and soothing in our present terrifying times.

“Hearts will mend, ‘round the bend
Paths that cross, will cross again.”

Stay safe, my friends. Xx