“I see things like they were sculptures. It depends on how that form exists within the space”
-Robert Mapplethorpe

Robert Mapplethorpe’s polemical and historically significant photographs varied in subject matter, from lurid and salacious to somber and contemplative. Yet, no matter the content, Mapplethorpe’s commitment to perfection, which he believed to have been embodied by Classical sculpture, was evident. “I am obsessed with beauty,” he once confessed. “I want everything to be perfect, and of course it isn’t.” The pursuit of perfection drove Mapplethorpe to continuously strive to simulate the form, curvature and style of Greek and Roman marbles in his photographs.

In the current lot, the artist positioned two of his favored models, Ken Moody and Robert Sherman, in profile, cropping both at the shoulders, in keeping with Classical busts. The contours of their bodies—separated by an elegant sliver of space—seamlessly undulate against each other, their skin lit with a soft and ethereal sheen. And yet, they are not meant to be mistaken for sculptures but rather narrow the space between the real and the sculpted, perpetually leaving perfection just out of reach.