DAVID LACHAPELLE “MAKE BELIEVE”
Located in the Flatiron District of Manhattan, Fotografiska New York will display the world of David LaChapelle at his first museum solo exhibition in North America titled “make Believe.” The historic landmark constructed in the 1890s, originally known as The Church Mission Building, will also host its first building-wide show in which four floors include more than 150 iconic works by “one of the most successful photographic artists of our time,” quoting Johan Vikner, Director of Global Exhibitions, Fotografiska. The New York location is of the renowned Stockholm-based destination for world-class photography where inclusivity, inspiration, and consciousness are central to each exhibition.
David LaChapelle was born in Connecticut in 1963 where he attended an arts high school and originally enrolled as a painter. LaChapelle moved to New York at age 17, where his first photography show took place at Gallery 303. Andy Warhol hired him to work for the artist’s Interview Magazine. As LaChapelle expanded into the genre of photography, an international interest picked up around the captivating photographer as David challenged traditional devices of photography and developed his own techniques. Throughout his career, he worked at other various publications including Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, and Rolling Stone. LaChapelle published books of his works, including LaChapelle Land (1996) and Hotel LaChapelle (1999), among multiple other widely recognized anthologies. His work transpired into alternative areas of the visual arts, including feature films, music videos, and stage projects.
Collectively, his works have become the archetypes of America in the 21st century. LaChapelle challenges ideas regarding mass consumerism, environmental change, and moral constructs by way of his own personal experience and distinctive symbolism. He has worked with celebrities, including Naomi Campbell, Whitney Houston, Leonardo DiCaprio, Amanda Lepore, and Courtney Love, and he drew inspiration from Andy Warhol, Botticelli, Georgia O’Keefe, and, his favorite artist, Michelangelo, among others.
To enter the alternate reality of “make Believe,” the exhibit begins at the top floor of the museum. Beneath the exposed metal beams and peaked roofing, velvet chairs and sofas face a large projection of a behind-the-scenes video loop extracted from LaChapelle’s career working on photography sets. Coffee tables are stacked with monographs of his work, supplemented with a collection of works from creatives that inspired David’s own creative process.
The next three, consecutive floors display wonderful curations, made up of a featured series by LaChapelle, that successfully provoke an emotional stirring and mental recalibration. These perceived scenes of “normalcy” have been twisted and deconstructed by LaChapelle into a sometimes-unrecognizable reality, or one that looks familiar but a few arbitrary details do not seem to fit. LaChapelle does a fantastic job of pulling his viewer into seemingly hidden dimensions that give way to uncovering and recovering questions about the desires, impulses, truths of humanity. In the series “Earth laughs in Flowers,” LaChapelle brings to light the intentionally elusive darkness about a man’s time on Earth, and he explains the reality that things of monumental or symbolic value are in fact highly disposable. He describes how the beautiful flowers in these images continue to grow over the discarded items, as they have now lost all meaning. The series “Jesus is my Homeboy: Last Supper”* was inspired by the text on someone’s t-shirt LaChapelle spotted in the East Village during his time working mainly in editorial. Given this subject of Jesus is not often featured in fashion pieces, LaChapelle saw this as an opportunity to depict how the return of Jesus would look and who he would surround himself with while simultaneously appeasing the particular magazine by including brands that were their advertisers.
In sum, David LaChapelle has managed to fuse contradictory themes in dramatic and flamboyant imagery to view as an oasis of indulgent thought but also a sharpened actuality. His influence and success will continue to inspire photographers, artists, and creatives on a global and personal level.
Interview by Camille Guidry, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
Tearsheets by Alexa Dyer, Graphic Design Coordinator, PhotoBook Magazine
*All photos taken by Camille Guidry
