David LaChapelle (1968 - )
American artRelated: contemporary art - photography - American art
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Profile
David LaChapelle is a photographer and director who has worked in the fields of fashion, advertising, and fine art photography. He is famous for his surreal and often humorous style. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_LaChapelle [Apr 2006]
The Tradition of Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton
Such a set of attitudes seems to have led to an astonishing level of intimacy and trust between the photographer and his models. People will seem willing to play along with LaChapelle’s wildest flights of fancy, which have included Elton John sporting a pair of fake fried eggs on his face, Tupac Shakur in a bubble bath and Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow romping through a medieval battle scene. As the man himself says: ‘If you want reality take the bus.’ There is also a noticeable willingness on his subjects’ part to shrug off their clothes. LaChapelle, in the tradition of Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton, has unapologetically slapped sex on to the pages of our fashion and lifestyle magazines, but in such a way that, although highly stylized, the shock value is mixed with a sense of gleeful affection and good humor. --http://www.davidlachapelle.com/press/barb_metro.shtml [Sept 2004]David LaChapelle (2004) David Lachappelle, Davide Faccioli
David LaChapelle (2004) David Lachappelle, Davide Faccioli [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Book Description
In David LaChapelle land, Pee-Wee Herman is a Martian crash landed into a pastel suburb; L'il Kim becomes the ultimate status symbol, tattooed in the Louis Vuitton pattern; an elegant half-dressed woman wakes up in the untouched remains of an otherwise completely obliterated building; Madonna rises from pink waters as a mystical dragon princess; two women stand in a monochromatic red bathroom, one about to dig into the tub in which the other lies amidst pools of spaghetti; a woman and a horse carcass share a bed; Pamela Anderson hatches out of an egg; and Alexander McQueen burns down the castle dressed as the Queen of Hearts. It's all so much hyper-reality and fun park America gone surrealistically wrong--but in such an attractive way. Witness the workings of the photographer of our zeitgeist.
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