Gillian Wearing ('Me as Mapplethorpe')
- Artist: Gillian Wearing
- Date: 2009
- Medium: gelatin silver print
- Dimensions: 62 in. x 51 1/4 in. (1575 mm x 1301 mm) overall frame size
- Portrays: Gillian Wearing
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is a large gelatin‑silver print that turns to a powerful portrait of Gillian Wearing as he sits in black, staring straight ahead. Notice the weighty cane with its skull head—Wearing mimics the exact gesture from Robert Mapplethorpe’s 1988 self‑portrait. The print’s tonality makes the face appear almost suspended, as if his head were floating above his body. The technique gives a quiet contrast between the black fabric and the pale skin, echoing Mapplethorpe’s striking black‑and‑white portraits. In this work Wearing recreates that iconic image with subtle modern detail.
See it in person
Gillian Wearing ('Me as Mapplethorpe') is in the collection of The National Portrait Gallery at St Martin's Place, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
