| David LaChapelle | |
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David LaChapelle |
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| Born | March 11, 1963 Fairfield, Connecticut United States |
| Occupation | advertising fine art photography |
David LaChapelle (born March 11, 1963 in Fairfield, Connecticut) is a photographer and director who works in the fields of fashion, advertising, and fine art photography, and is noted for his surreal, unique, sexualized, and often humorous style.
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David LaChapelle was born in Fairfield, Connecticut and lived there until he was nine years old. He then he moved to North Carolina with his family, where they lived until he was fourteen, before moving back to Connecticut. He has said to have loved the public schools in Connecticut and thrived in their art program as a child and teenager, although he struggled with bullying growing up.[1] He also attended the North Carolina School of the Arts and School of Visual Arts in New York City. His first photograph was of his mother, Helga LaChapelle, on a family vacation in Puerto Rico.
Andy Warhol offered him his first professional job as a photographer for Interview after meeting him at Studio 54 where LaChapelle was working at the time, and spent time as a teenager and young adult.[2] He has also worked for Rolling Stone, Vogue, GQ, Photo and Vanity Fair throughout the years.
LaChapelle has four published books of his photographs, including LaChapelle Land, Hotel LaChapelle, Heaven to Hell, and Artists and Prostitutes. All four books contain vivid and surreal portraits of celebrities such as Shakira, Whitney Houston, Marilyn Manson, Gisele Bundchen, Naomi Campbell, David Bowie, Mariah Carey, David Beckham, Björk, Drew Barrymore, Shirley Manson, Courtney Love, Lil' Kim, Lance Armstrong, Angelina Jolie, Pamela Anderson, Britney Spears, Cameron Diaz, Uma Thurman, Brooke Shields, Leonardo DiCaprio, Amanda Lepore, Cher, Christina Aguilera, Hugh Hefner, Madonna, P!nk, Olga Rodionova, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Kylie Minogue, Paris Hilton and recently Lady Gaga. He has described Walt Whitman, Richard Avedon, Georgia O'Keefe, Andy Warhol, Christian Zwettler, Helmut Newton, Diane Arbus, and Botticelli and Michelangelo as influences.[2]
In 1995 David LaChapelle shot the famous ‘kissing sailors’ advertisement for Diesel. It was staged at the peace celebration of World War II and became one of the first public advertisements showing a homosexual couple kissing.[3] Much of its controversy was due it being published at height of the Don't ask, Don't tell debates in USA, which had led to the U.S. Government to bar openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual persons from military service. In a long article published by Frieze in 1996, the advertisement was credited for its “overarching tone of heavy-handed humor and sarcasm”. [4] In September 2011 when the Don't ask, Don't tell law was finally removed by President Barack Obama, Renzo Rosso, the founder and president of Diesel who originally had approved and pushed for the advertisement, said “16 years ago people wouldnt stop complaining about this ad. Now it’s (open bi- and homosexuality in the U.S. Military) finally accepted legally.”[5]
LaChapelle directed singer Elton John's show, The Red Piano at Las Vegas' Caesars Palace, which premiered in 2004. The show features extensive use of video technology on an LED screen backing the show that, when built, was promoted as the largest and brightest of all time. Several of John's songs during the performance are accompanied by short films by LaChapelle. On a CNN interview LaChapelle admitted to gay escorting at the age of 18.[6]
Rize, LaChapelle's documentary on the krumping style of dance in South Central Los Angeles, premiered at Sundance in 2005 and was released theatrically that summer.
He has directed advertisements for major brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Lavazza,[7] Nokia, L'Oréal, Diesel, and Burger King.[8] In 2006 he directed Romeo and Juliet, a five-minute commercial for H&M's new denim brand, and Tis the Season to be Gorgeous, a humorous Christmas commercial for UK retailer Boots Group showing glamorous-looking women doing relatively mundane Christmas tasks. Also in the UK, he directed the surreal Lost trailers for Channel 4, showing the cast dancing in 1920s costume among the burning wreckage on the beach, whilst the cast's voice-over includes such phrases as "one of us is a murderer" and "one of us is a junkie." In addition to this, he directed Channel 4's promotion of Desperate Housewives season one.
LaChapelle's work has been described as surrealist, grotesque, shocking and ironic. Ingrid Sischy, long-time editor of Interview magazine, has said there are three main aspects to his "strong and individualistic" photography: a sense of humour, political awareness and social awareness.[9] His use of celebrities exaggerates aspects of their personalities and their personal lives.[10] LaChapelle was a guest on an episode of Bravo's Work of Art reality show in August, 2010.
In 2007, LaChapelle presented a collection of photography titled Awakened. The images are inspired in the Universal Flood, water and religion being the common themes throughout the collection.
Some of the pictures feature individuals suspended on water as if they were corpses, while others present museums and cathedrals flooding. One of the most representative photos in the collection is a giant photograph that shows a contemporary version of Michelangelo's The Flooding. The scene takes place in Las Vegas and includes the ruins of the Caesar's Palace in the background and destroyed Gucci and Burger King banners.
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