' It was the summer that Coltrane died. The summer Jimi Hendrix set his guitar in flames & China exploded the H-bomb. There were riots in Newark & marches against the war in Vietnam. The world was on the brink of change. It was the summer of love. & the summer of a chance encounter that would change the course of my life. It was the summer I met Robert.' Just Kids is the story of two innocents who shed sheltered lives & braved the city in search of art & freedom. In each other Robert Mapplethorpe & Patti Smith found kindred spirits & pursued their mutual dreams from Brooklyn to the Chelsea Hotel into the world. Each would eventually reach the pinnacle of artistic achievement & their vow to always care for one another survived painful trials & separations. Mapplethorpe's unforgettable portrait of Smith for the cover of Horses forever fuses their indelible mark on our culture. Intimate & broadly evocative of New York in the early 70s Just Kids
- part romance part elegy
- is finally about friendship in the truest sense & the artist's calling.