In Seven Foot One, 1978, Mapplethorpe uses the knowing mundanity of garments as the code in this strange, highly strung image. It’s like something is about to happen, that “something” likely being sex. Our eye quickly reads the tailored suit, but the mind lingers on the detail: because of the subject’s height, the jacket is long enough to be, on most, a dress. His arms are folded, exaggerating the tension: who will relent? What do they want?

Permanent Collections

• Los Angeles County Museum of Art / J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California