“It is said that children do not distinguish between living and inanimate objects; I believe they do. A child imparts a doll or tin soldier with magical life-breath. The artist animates his work as the child his toys.”
Gritty but emotional, "Just Kids" is the improbably tale of love between Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe as they struggle with identity and aspiration in New York City. Smith paints a compelling portrait of the journey from homelessness to fame for the duo, inseparable despite a myriad of differences.
“It was a good day to arrive in New York City. No one expected me. Everything awaited me.”
This book had been on my to-read list for years, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. Smith's combination of courage and naivete is something to behold, and her brushes with era icons like Andy Warhol lent even more depth to the story.
“I didn’t feel for Warhol the way Robert did. His work reflected a culture I wanted to avoid. I hated the soup and felt little for the can. I preferred an artist who transformed his time, not mirrored it.”
The author obscures a number of conversations early in the book related to her family and her escape to New York, but finds her voice in documenting the litany of coincidences that allowed her to find Robert, her path, and her future.
“But secretly I knew I had been transformed, moved by the revelation that human beings create art, that to be an artist was to see what others could not.”
“I learned from him that often contradiction is the clearest way to the truth.”
Melancholy, sweet, and heartbreaking, "Just Kids" has gaps like any tale of life, but is essential reading for anyone interested in the culture and climate of 1970s NYC and how cosmic twins can find one another in its shadows and alleys.
“We were as Hansel and Gretel and we ventured out into the black forest of the world. There were temptations and witches and demons we never dreamed of and there was splendor we only partially imagined. No one could speak for these two young people nor tell with any truth of their days and nights together. Only Robert and I could tell it. Our story, as he called it. And, having gone, he left the task to me to tell it to you.”
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