Get Excited For HBO’s Uncensored Robert Mapplethorpe Documentary

Understanding the legacy of New York photographer Robert Mapplethorpe is crucial for anyone trying to navigate the tense relationship between art, censorship, and controversy in 2015. A new HBO documentary titled Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures, promises to do just that. Interviews with collaborators like Fran Lebowitz and Debbie Harry (and hopefully his former partner Patti Smith), coupled with never-before-seen archive imagery, almost ensures a comprehensive and unflinching look at Mapplethorpe's life.

Filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato are promising a no-holds-barred approach. "“Even his most shocking and forbidden images are included without blurs, without snickers –  in other words, exactly as the artist intended." The film is set to debut April 2016, and will almost inevitably be followed by a spate of retrospectives (The J. Paul Getty Museum and LACMA have both announced exhibits in March). Are you ready for the Mapplethorpe revival? We certainly are.