Patti Smith gently rocked the Getty Center Saturday, April 30, performing two acoustic shows in honor of her "life-long friend" Robert Mapplethorpe, whose poignant artworks and photographs are on exhibit there and at LACMA through July 31.

As a product of the 70s and 80s, I'm thrilled to have been asked to develop ArtBites classes around both exhibits even though food isn't exactly a topic featured in Mapplethorpe's work. At least not literally.

He was fearless. He unapologetically offered up his entire life in his work. His obsession with sex. His fascination with sin. His love of flowers. Whatever he experienced, he put into his photographs for the viewer to accept or reject.