"My desire was to become an artist. Perhaps I lacked the necessary skills, but I had the willingness to develop them, for I believed in the truth of my calling. It had come to me like an ecstatic vision. There was no Faustian pact connected with my vow, no expectations from godly elements. I knew I would be on my own, yet still hoped for a compatriot, and Providence led me to him."
"Robert Mapplethorpe was an American boy, raised in a devout Catholic family. He had played the saxophone in the high-school band and won an R.O.T.C. scholarship to study graphic arts at Pratt Institute. His mother had great hopes that he would enter the priesthood. But his father envisioned him rising in the ranks of the military, with commercial-art training to fall back on."
A newcomer arrived in New York in 1967 determined to become an artist, carrying little more than conviction and a plaid suitcase. An ecstatic vision confirmed the calling and prompted solitary commitment without supernatural bargains. Providence brought a companion, Robert Mapplethorpe, who had been raised Catholic and trained in graphic arts on an R.O.T.C. scholarship. Mapplethorpe abandoned expected roles after confronting his true self, sacrificing scholarship, apartment, allowance, and paternal approval. He lived simply among portfolios while both individuals rescued one another amid rejection and the pursuit of artistic identity.
Read at The New Yorker
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