David LaChapelle
Deluge, 2006
C-Print
101.6 × 388.6 cm
Starting his career as an artist, David LaChapelle took a pause in fine arts, once he successfully dived into the commercial photography world.
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For decades, LaChapelle worked with Interview Magazine, Vanity Fair, Italian Vogue, and Rolling Stone. He explained his shift in career and style saying, “Hardly anyone collected color photography at the time and that’s what I was making, saturated color prints. I realized that I might be burning a bridge with the galleries by working for magazines, but it’s been said, “sometimes you get the best light from a burning bridge”.”
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In ‘Deluge’, 2006 he return to his artist roots, exploring the concept of great disruption. LaChapelle shares how great disruptions can feel like the end of the world- yet, the world still goes on. He takes the classical styles of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel or Karl Bryullov’s ‘The Last Day of Pompeii’ and combines them with tragedy and pop culture references.
Exhibitions
‘Bad Planet’, Gary Tatintsian Gallery, Moscow. Apr-May ’08
David LaChapelle, Milan, Palazzo Reale, Sep ’07-Jan ’08
David LaChapelle, Forte Belvedere Museum, Florence, Jul-Oct ’08
American Jesus, Installation Shot; Sebastian Guinness Gallery, 2009
David LaChapelle. Postmodern Pop Photography, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Jul-Nov ’10
‘David LaChapelle’, Rize Gallery, Amsterdam, 04-20 Feb ’11
Jablonka Galerie, Berlin, Mar-May ’11
Lost and Found, Galeria Mesta, Bratislava, Sep-Oct ’11
David LaChapelle “Cathedral”, Michael Schultz Gallery, Berlin. 27.04.2011-24.05.2011 Nosotros La Humanidad Al BordeSan Juan, Museo Arte Contemporaneo de Puerto Rico, Oct ’11-Mar ’12
Hangaram Design Museum, Seoul, Nov ’11-Mar ’12
David LaChapelle, Busan, Bexco Art Center, 2012
Burning Beauty, Stockholm, Fotigrafiska Museet, 2012
Thus Spoke LaChapelle, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Dec ’11-Feb ’12
Postmodernity. Espacio De Arte Contemporáneo, Montevideo, Uruguay. Jun 9-Aug 26, 2016
Publications
David LaChapelle, Florence. Giunti, 2007, pl. 1, pp.122-123
David LaChapelle “Cathedral”, Michael Schultz Gallery, Berlin. Online Catalogue
