In Earth Laughs In Flowers David LaChapelle appropriates the traditional Baroque still life painting in order to explore contemporary vanity, vice, the transience of earthly possessions and, ultimately, the fragility of humanity. Expectations of the still life are satisfied through the inclusion of symbolic objects such as fruit. flowers and skulls, but also upended by the insertion of everyday items such as cell phones, cigarette butts, balloons, Barbies, and a Starbuck's iced coffee cup...

Featuring: David LaChapelle with Robert Draper, plus Kitra Cahana, Gillian Laub, Cirenaica Moreira, Paolo Pellegrin with Anthony Bannon, Robin Schwartz, and Anthony Suau of Facing Change.

PRAGUE.- David LaChapelle (born 1963 in Farmington, Connecticut, USA) has ranked among the world’s most eminent photographers since the mid-1990s. His work has exerted an influence on dozens of other artists and over time, LaChapelle has evolved a style entirely his own, one which is recognizable at first glance. In the context of his exhibitions, the present show, entitled Thus Spoke LaChapelle and held at Galerie Rudolfinum in Prague, occupies a unique place...

Fred Torres Collaborations is proud to share a limited edition print of Gretchen Ryan's Bambi.
Please consider donating this year to Nextstep Fitness to support our artist.
Proceeds go to Nextstep Fitness, a promising new physical therapy program for Gretchen

Christopher Davison usually works small. His drawings and prints are dark, fairy tale dreamscapes that involve enormous numbers of details made with a wide variety of mostly tiny marks. But when the opportunity arose to create a wall-scale piece — a mural, in fact, on a gallery wall — Davison took a leap of faith and plunged right in. The resulting black and white mural in Gallery 817 at University of the Arts was a triumph of content, style, imagination and just plain hard work...

At the press conference introducing his current Gallery Rudolfinum exhibition, photographer David LaChapelle said of his images — recognized around the world for their hyper-vibrant color and provocative nature — that he never “sets out to shock.” He certainly turned heads, however, when making his entrance into a packed house with a young man and a tall, dark handsome model, whom he later introduced as Perry, wearing a tight pink mini dress, sunglasses and black stilettos...

Painter, Photographer and multi-media artist Gretchen Ryan, who is currently Los Angeles based, premiered her new show “Cheers in Heaven” at the Fred Torres Collaborations Gallery in Downtown Chelsea area on November 15, 2011. Her imagery depicted throughout the colorful paintings and photographs were of youthful beauty queen-like ladies. One of these young ladies, thought to be the muse of the collection, was actually present...

“Gretchen Ryan is one of those people that you meet and instantly fall in love with, or at least I did. Her energy seems almost saint-like, above gossip and frowns. She also is supermodel gorgeous, a tremendous artist, sweet as pie, and genuinely seems to care deeply about every living creature..."

Provocative celebrity portraits brought him fortune and fame, but David LaChapelle seems well over that whole scene. "Celebrities and fashion photography were a means to an end," the artist said on Monday at a press conference at the Seoul Arts Center in southern Seoul. The 48-year-old was here for the opening of a retrospective of his work at the Hangaram Design Museum, which will run until Feb. 26. In fact, he seemed resentful of the word "provocative" when used...

Provocative, surreal yet stunningly artistic, that's how the works of David LaChapelle, 48, a renowned photographer are esteemed. But LaChapelle was surprisingly humble and soft-spoken, who openly shared his life story including his withdrawl from the world and his unadorned take on art. He is in Korea for his retrospective exhibition, "David LaChapelle," which will be held at the Hanman Design Museum at Seoul Art Center (SAC), southern Seoul, through FEb. 26, 2012...

Gretchen Ryan, a Los Angeles based artist and friend of David Lachapelle, had her opening last night, November 15, 2011 at the Fred Torres Collaborations gallery for her new solo exhibition “Cheers in Heaven”. The works on view include photographs, realist paintings and charcoal drawings. Gretchen has worked with young girls before in her previous show all based in the subculture of child beauty pageants. Some of the girls Ryan has followed...

In a project that recalls Louise Lawler's ongoing investigation of art objects as fetishes and commodities, Gonzales-Day photographs statuary in the storerooms of European and American museums. His interest in representations of race, gender, and class results in a number of pointed juxtapositions of white, black, and ethnic subjects that are obvious but effective. In one image, an American Indian bronze in a loincloth gestures aggressively...

OCT. 14 Courtney Love celebrating with David LaChapelle as his Alexander McQueen portrait was inducted into the National Portrait Gallery in London.

This artist book is the first in a series of PAC (Photographic Arts Council) Prize editions, published by the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Lead support is generously provided by the Photographic Arts Council of LACMA. The PAC Prize acknowledges the central role played by books in the history of photography. It is awarded biennially to photographic artists or curators whose development will be fostered by a....

It's all about unique new perspectives at the Texas Contemporary Art Fair, which features over 50 galleries specializing in the work of today's most innovative artists. "Everything's going well so far and it's still only the preview," Fredericka Hunter, who founded Houston's Texas Gallery in the late 1970s, said at the Thursday night event which kicked off the festival. "We were one of top 10 performing galleries at Art Platform-Los Angeles a few weeks ago. I hope it goes just as well..."

'Burning Down the House,' a portrait by David LaChapelle of the late ALexander McQueen and his 'muse' Isabella Blow has been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery. This is the first portrait by LaChapelle to enter the Gallery's Collection and will be exhibited in the United Kingdom for the first time from Friday 14 October 2011. The double portrait of McQueen and Blow was originally published in the March 1977 'Swinging London' edition of Vanity Fair...

A photograph of the late great fashion designer Alexander McQueen and his muse the magazine editor Isabella Blow has been bought by the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London. Burning Down the House by Avant Garde photographer David LaChapelle was originally published in the ‘Swinging London’ edition of Vanity Fair in 1997 .The photo "The Provocateurs" was accompanied by text about McQueen and his close friend. The portrait was shot....

The late fashion icons and friends Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow now have a permanent home together at London's National Portrait Gallery. The museum acquired David LaChapelle's infamous 1996 portrait of the fashion designer and style legend, "Burning Down the House," which made its British exhibition debut today. Originally presented as a spread in Vanity Fair's March 1997 "Swinging London" issue for an article called "The Provocateurs," the playful photograph...

Burning Down The House by surrealist photographer David LaChapelle was originally published in Vanity Fair in 1997. The shot was with an article branding McQueen and Blow "The Provocateurs". NPG director Sandy Nairne said he was "delighted" to receive the work, which is now on display in the gallery. The portrait was shot at Hedingham Castle in Essex in 1996 and shows McQueen dressed as a woman, brandishing a flaming torch...

This Saturday, I visited No Comment, an art exhibition in response to Occupy Wall Street at the historic JP Morgan Building. Sandwiched between the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall, this exhibition was the closest the protesters have gotten to actually occupying a Wall Street building with their signs and messages of economic struggle....

Last seen at the opening of The Raft in Hong Kong back in May, as well as stopping off shortly thereafter in NYC for his Lever House installation, David LaChapelle is primed to bring a selection of relevant works from perhaps lesser known periods of his artistic career to Los Angeles. Opening tonight, September 27th at the architecturally brilliant PRISM, the New York-based photographer will revive two distinct bodies of work, Negative Currency and Recollections in America...

On Tuesday evening, PRISM packed their gleaming house to present two bodies of work from noted photographer David LaChapelle — ‘Negative Currency’ and ‘Recollections in America’. The former makes ingenious use of a photo enlarger to capture both the front and back of American paper currency in one image, calling into question its stability and unquestioned value. The latter work features extremely clever manipulations of 70s photographs to which LaChapelle has added image...

Pizzaroni creates a collision of photography and painting by placing found snapshots face down on wet oils and scanning the messy, expressionistic, and chance results. The obvious, and far more elegant, precedent is Gerhard Richter’s paint-smeared photographs, but Pizzaroni’s rude exuberance can be arresting. The violence of his process is most apparent in a series of nineteen-fifties yearbook portraits that look as if they’ve been slathered in blood. More recent party pictures and figures in suburban...

Even in the Age of Gaga it's still necessary to remind the world that female artists face barriers. Yes, women are free to wear a meat dress or express themselves in any artistic way imaginable, which is an important, tectonic shift from the rigidity of decades past — but they are still struggling to pierce the armor plating of art's most sacred institutions. According to feminist artist and educator Judy Chicago, only 3% to 5% of artwork on display in the permanent collections of most major museums is by a female artist.

The best thematic group shows explore not what the disparate artists under their given rubrics might share, but rather how their differences move the chosen topic of conversation forward. The temptation with shows based on race, gender or some narrowly defined subject matter like architecture or food is to look for (often forced or overstated) commonalities. But Subliminal Projects bucks that tradition with its take on the summer-season group show, Eve, "an intelligent look at the wildly diverse...

In this candid interview, photographer David LaChapelle touches on his diverse origins, what makes a subject natural, and his complex relationship with Christianity. Perhaps best known for his dynamic, charged imagery from the 1990s, photographer David LaChapelle is experiencing a renaissance of sorts. He has emerged as a darling of the fine art photography world that had long shunned him for being too commercial. Although he spent decades capturing famous faces, it was advertisements that lent a pop aesthetic...

A typical month in the life of legendary photographer David LaChapelle is a lot like the one that started the morning after this visit -- involving a flight to say, Prague or Istanbul, thence to Hong Kong or Guadalajara, with a stop in Paris or Miami en route home to LA, along the way opening one or more hugely anticipated new exhibitions, and/or shooting a gorgeous and expensive fashion story, and/or accepting invitations to the most fabulous parties you can think of. But throughout it all, he never, ever stops working...

His shows at Lever House and Michelman Fine Art have drawn the attention, but David LaChapelle is also represented this summer by the evening-length dance Transcending Form, which he produced for his friend and frequent collaborator, choreographer John Byrne. Despite its title, the work marks a return to form for both men: for LaChapelle, a return to dance six years after his indelible krumping documentary Rize; for Byrne, a Juilliard-trained dancer, a return to balletic movement after a long stint...

Best known for his surreal celebrity portraits, startling fashion spreads and theatrical rock videos, David LaChapelle cut his teeth in New York’s downtown art scene—showing at edgy galleries, such as 303, 56 Bleecker and Tomoko Liguori—long before he achieved commercial success. Once he became a sensation in the magazine and music worlds, higher-profile galleries started exhibiting his unique brand of provocative photography, which opened the door for an escape from advertising and a return to fine art.

An ambitious evening-length contemporary dance fable created and choreographed by John Byrne, "Transcending Form" purports to express the idea of the transcending soul. All one can really garner, however, from watching the work is that people can be made to change. Through a fluent series of short dance episodes, Byrne repeatedly shows distraught characters calming down after being touched, caressed, or supported by other beings, including a woman in white named Holy Spirit.

John Byrne and David LaChapelle used to be a couple. The romance didn’t last, but the two have continued their relationship through art. Mr. Byrne, a choreographer and former dancer for Paul Taylor, worked on “Rize,” Mr. LaChapelle’s 2005 documentary about krumping, as well as “Elton John: The Red Piano.” Now Mr. LaChapelle has produced Mr. Byrne’s first full-length work of dance, “Transcending Form”...In addition, Mr. Byrne has created a structured improvisation piece at Lever House...

Robert Shuster features 'Gone With the Wind' in the Village Voice "Best in Show" column. Gerhard Richter's overpainted photographs always look a little like grade-B sci-fi: ordinary landscapes or interiors suddenly invaded by multicolored ooze. Luca Pizzaroni has done something similar with snapshots he's collected from flea markets and eBay auctions. He dips each one in variously colored oils, obscuring parts of the original image, then scans and enlarges the result—a process that blurs the textures that define...

David LaChapelle reviewed and featured as second most popular art exhibition in NYC on NYArtBeat iPhone application. The three main components presented in "From Darkness To Light" stand alone, yet inform each other to create a unified installation, utilizing photography in three ways: collage, stickers and paper chain. The pieces are inspired by the simplicity of childhood endeavors taught in early art lessons, re-imagined through the lens of adulthood. This will engage the viewer in that collective...

Christopher Musci reviews 'Transcending Form' for Sparked.biz Those who love the fusion of dance, song, and art will be thoroughly enchanted by Transcending Form a new dance work by choreographer John Byrne featuring the artwork of edgy photographer David LaChapelle. Transcending Form’s eight dancers gracefully navigate the emotional journey of its story of life, afterlife, and the transcending soul to the eclectic, yet superbly appropriate, mix of music from Schubert to Shirley Brown, Michael Jackson...

Jocelyn Silver discusses David LaChapelle's June 6th lecture at Michelman Fine Art. David LaChapelle has returned to his career. Much like the similarly-named Dave Chapelle, LaChapelle retreated to a farm after his documentary Rize flopped. But evidently nature wasn’t quite thrilling enough for him, and so he’s back in New York, with a retrospective at the Michelman Gallery and a show of new work at Lever House. I attended LaChapelle’s talk on his new exhibition at the Michelman Gallery...

For someone whose images often provoke shock and sensation, David LaChapelle is surprisingly soft-spoken in person. Over the last two decades, the US photographer has established himself as the go to guy for outrageous and outlandish celebrity portraits and fashion campaigns. Whether it's Britney Spears' coquettish schoolgirl Lolita cover for Rolling Stones, Christina Aguilera's appropriately Dirty music video, or rapper Kanye West posing as Jesus Christ with a crown of thorns, his works in print, video, film and stage...

Transcending Form, a new dance work by John Byrne is at Theater80, cool East Village art Theater. Mr. Byrne comes to choreography through his training from Julliard, School of American Ballet and North Carolina School of the Arts, as well as performing with Paul Taylor, Eric Hawkins and Patrick Corbin, to name a few. His work is narrative and earnest, eager to share his view. Gina Figueroa, a singer, in a beaded evening gown the color of a latte, begins the piece with “Precious Lord”, a spiritual...

Both the press release for David LaChapelle’s show at Michelman Fine Art and the recent New York Times profile of the artist mention the same name in their very first sentences: Andy Warhol. LaChapelle’s early work at Warhol’s Interview Magazine indeed proved pivotal in launching his career while the visible Pop inheritance has contributed to his success and idolization by many. But there is a uniquely electric feel about LaChapelle’s use of vivid neon color and the jarring displays of contorted bodies...

For the next few days, the last photo of Andy Warhol will be on display at a gallery in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Earlier this week, David LaChapelle recalled the time he spent with Warhol before he took the photo in 1986 – long before he became one of the world’s most famous photographers. Mr. LaChapelle’s presence in New York reflects another tie with the pop art pioneer: An attempt to transition from commercial success to greater recognition in the art world. Over the last 25 years, Mr. LaChapelle has...

Have you ever heard of “painthography”? I haven’t, until today. In this case, painthography, or paintography, is the purposeful manipulation of photographs with the use of paint. It’s kind of crazy, right? Luca Pizzaroni is one artist that uses this technique for his works. Pizzaroni will have his exhibition, “Gone with the Wind” display at Chelsea gallery Fred Torres Collaborations. I contacted the gallery and Elana Rubinfeld was kind enough to send me a press release for this event. For the past 20 years...

Since 2005, Fred Torres Collaborations has provided not just a project space for artists to be displayed, but also been a management company, collaborating with galleries, museums and artists around the globe. This is clearly not just another Chelsea gallery. Elana Rubinfeld of Fred Torres Collaborations was kind enough to send me the press release for their next event. The upcoming exhibition will be a photographic painting series by Luca Pizzaroni entitled "Gone with the Wind." Pizzaroni collaborated with...

From fashion photographer demi-god to farmer: David LaChappelle made a rare appearance in New York last night, with Daphne Guinness, Uma Thurman and Amanda Lepore, to open his latest exhibition. David LaChapelle has become one of the art world's most collectable photographers. He was discovered and mentored by Andy Warhol, who started the photographer's career at Interview Magazine. LaChapelle went on to create iconic images of Michael Jackson as a Jesus-like figure; model Karolina Kurkova as...

David LaChapelle, the fashion photographer turned artist, has spent his career coaxing celebrities out of their comfort zone. Brooke Shields, Naomi Campbell, and Daniel Day-Lewis all disrobed for Mr. LaChapelle. Angelina Jolie posed with a horse nibbling on her nipple. James Truman, Mr. LaChapelle’s former editor at Details Magazine, once said, “We would look at a picture that came in and say, ‘how the hell did he get them to do that?’” Mr. LaChapelle, always provocative, is also famously attuned to commercial...

David LaChapelle was the High Priest of celebrity photography for almost two decades. So why has he turned his back on fame and fashion to explore death, disaster and the end of times? // If you show anyone interested in photography a picture of your work, they will immediately say ‘LaChapelle’. Why are you so distinctive? Because I didn’t think about it too much. I went intuitively. I blew up colour at the same time grunge took over; all this black and white, people looking depressed, whereas I just exploded with colour.

We like seeing local talent rise to the top. Even more of a thrill is to see one of our own at Model D excel at what they do. In April, photographer Marvin Shaouni traveled to New York City to take part in an exhibition called "Live from Detroit." The show was curated by Monica Bowman of the Butcher's Daughter in Ferndale and features works by Kevin Beasley, Susan Goethel Campbell, Kate Daughdrill, Christina Galasso, Dick Goody, Cynthia Greig, Chido Johnson, Leon Johnson, Laith Karmo, George Rahme...

We’ve all been there: You walk into a gleaming white-box gallery where an elegant gallerina sits behind a designer table. She doesn’t seem to notice your entrance, doesn’t even deign to look up from her glowing computer screen as you walk through the hallowed rooms to see the art on the walls. If you ask her for a list of the works, she’s curt, dismissive. And you try to whisk by the expensive creations as efficiently and unobtrusively as possible. You arrive back on the sidewalk feeling beat up, befuddled...

Vince Aletti reviews Assembly: Eight Emerging Photographers from Southern California in "Goings On About Town" // Regional focus seems almost incidental to this exceptionally strong group show; what’s most striking is the intelligence and idiosyncrasy of the work that the curator, Edward Robinson, has chosen. The photographers, nearly all of whom are making their New York début here, take very different approaches to the medium, from the relatively straight...to the oddly manipulated...

Alright, who hasn’t placed a bid at BAM’s Benefit Auction yet? Time to move! The auction closes tomorrow at 6 pm. The Ryan Johnson mixed media work above needs a home. A cocktail reception will be held tomorrow from 3-6 for those wanting to hob nob a little before the auction closes. I hope to see at least a few readers there as the BAM benefit events are usually a blast. Speaking of which, this time I intend to remain sober. The last BAM auction reception I attended resulted in a little too much fun and a lost weekend.

NEW YORK— The mood was cheerful and at times even giddy at the Pulse Art Fair's opening yesterday. Maybe that's because "Pulse is consistently good," as one peppy fairgoer told ARTINFO. Or maybe it's the welcoming environment, since, as artist and independent curator Valeri Larko noted, "they feed you, which is really nice." Everyone seemed pleased with the new Metropolitan Pavilion venue on Chelsea's 18th Street. (Losing the trek to West Street on the outer reaches of the West Village certainly...

Pulse 2011, a fair more oriented towards emerging national US galleries than the Armory, ADAA or Independent, took place in a well-lit, pleasant space on West 18th Street that had more in common with a high-end mall than a convention center. Wooden floors throughout gave the fair a cohesive feeling and gallery walls were never too close together. Unfortunately, most of the art on view was just as anodyne as the space itself. One of the clear dominant trends of this fair season is the marked return of figurative...

Online art is having a moment. The VIP Art Fair—the first exclusively-online art fair—had its inaugural show last month; heavyweights Dasha Zhukova, Larry Gagosian and Eric Schmidt are launching Art.sy, dubbed the Pandora for art, this spring; and back in December, Bill Powers entered the online art arena, along with his wife Cynthia Rowley and her business partner Laura Martin, with Exhibition A. Although Powers is no stranger to art dealing (his contemporary art space, Half Gallery, is mobbed on opening nights)...

"Do I want a corridor or do I want an experience every time I walk in the door?" Daphne Guinness asked herself one recent afternoon. Of course she wanted the experience. So entering her new Fifth Avenue apartment, one proceeds through a hall that seems to stretch into infinity, thanks to its completely mirrored walls and ceiling. With blood-red carpet underfoot and a few striking works of contemporary art on view, including...

Everyone wants a piece of David LaChapelle. I know, because during my chat with him at Art Stage Singapore, the Singapore-based international contemporary art fair where he was showing, we were interrupted several times by gallery owners, art dealers and fans-the bold ones, who came by to introduce themselves and fawn over him with many more waiting in his wings. To his credit, the tall casually dressed LaChapelle graciously talked to each and every one of them while I sat by and quietly studied...

In the first institutional solo exhibition in Germany of works by the American photographer David LaChapelle (*1964), the kestnergesellschaft presents a series of new, not yet shown photographs. The series Earth Laughs in Flowers, which was created this year, refers to art-historical visual traditions but never loses sight of LaChapelle’s own artistic language. The large-format still lifes in this series, with titles such as The Lovers...

Daphne Guinness has been called "fashion's wild child" by the New York Times. New York Magazine said she lives in a "jewel box." She elicits innumerable amounts of comments, posts, blogs and profiles: an endless array of fascination. In short, she's her own fashionable tour-de-force, with her public missteps (literally) being just as followed as her very personal decision to buy the entire Isabella Blow collection five minutes before midnight just before the auction catalogue was set to be printed by Christie's...

Throughout history, artists have been inspired by the presence of certain other people in their lives that motivated them to create their best work. The source of inspiration could be a man, a woman, or even a pet, but it is almost always a being that also possesses great talent and an expressive imagination. From the model for Édouard Manet’s Olympia and Pablo Picasso’s mistress in the heyday of surrealism to Francis Bacon’s drunken pal and David LaChapelle’s doll-face girlfriend, we’ve uncovered the most...

Last week, The Observer took the elevator to the top floor of the Warren and Wetmore building on 57th Street for the opening of fordPROJECT, an art gallery started by Altpoint Capital Partners, the same company that owns Ford Models. The people in charge insisted there would be no models in attendance. “We’re not, as you see, bound at all by the constraints of fashion,” said Guerman Aliev, chairman and chief executive of Altpoint, gesturing to the model-less room. “We will not have any models coming to see this...

David LaChapelle, who was by all rights the show’s headliner, gave a Saturday afternoon lecture on commercialism in the art world to a sold-out audience. He cashed in on the weekend, selling all his work. // Art Stage Singapore, the city-state’s first high-profile contemporary art fair, promised a splash and didn’t disappoint. The event, which closed this week, drew 32,000 visitors, placing it squarely alongside ART HK as one of the region’s pre-eminent contemporary art events. (The Hong Kong fair had...

The opening this week of a new gallery in Midtown has generated unusual confusion in the worlds of art and fashion. Because the gallery’s name is fordProject, it has been promoted as a division of Ford Models, and many of us who have seen fashion climb on the back of art — and vice versa – to broaden its audience naturally assumed that the gallery was an offshoot of the agency. It isn’t. And though both are subsidiaries of Altpoint Capital, a private equity company based in Manhattan, and the gallery...

SINGAPORE—The first edition of Art Stage Singapore ended on Sunday and reported strong sales and a lively atmosphere, logging a total of 32,000 visitors who came to see contemporary artwork shown by 121 galleries from 26 countries. Fair director Lorenzo Rudolf—who helmed Art Basel from 1991 to 2000, founding Art Basel Miami Beach and later Shanghai's ShContemporary—said in a statement that "it was important that we created a quality fair with a strong Asian identity that would put Singapore on the art...

"Fairytale life stories" was the first thing that popped into the head of independent curator Lara Pan when she was asked to propose an inaugural art exhibition for Altpoint Capital Partners' new contemporary art space, FordPROJECT, located in a sprawling penthouse on 57th Street above the Ford modeling agency's women division. "I was inspired by the history of Ford [Models]," explains Pan in the context of her show, "When the Fairy Tale Never Ends," which opens January 20.

A tattooed love-heart showing just below the sleeve of his shirt, artist David LaChapelle is waving his hands in the air as he describes a work to Chinese-American collector Richard Chang over lunch at a rooftop restaurant. Opposite him at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands hotel, Christie’s International’s Jakarta chief Amalia Wirjono is giving a potted history of Indonesian art to New York gallerist Fred Torres, while at the end of the table, Singapore gallery owner Jasdeep Sandhu trades news with Indonesian artist Nyoman Masriadi...

Tucked away in Maui, on an eco-friendly farm, photographer David LaChapelle is recharging his batteries and going back to his roots. Celebrated for his high-octane, color-saturated portraits of stars including Madonna, Elton John, Britney Spears and Courtney Love among others, LaChapelle is synonymous with contemporary pop culture. But after two decades of photographing the brightest stars in entertainment and fashion, LaChapelle was burnt out, so he made the decision to retreat to a remote part of Maui.

There are many reasons why the art world is wary of religion. Partly, it’s a question of history. For most of the 20th century, art aligned itself with progressive, rational secularity and radical subjectivity; the ideas that have fed into art come from modern philosophy, liberal or radical politics, sociology and pop culture rather than theology. It’s also a question of finance: the money that funds art doesn’t come from churches or religious orders like it did hundreds of years ago. And then there’s ethics.

Drawing is the name of the game in "Tall Tales," a two-person show of works on paper by Kristofer Porter and Christopher Davison at Fred Torres Collaborations in New York. The two artists, who met at the University of Central Florida in 1997, face off with more than 100 individual drawings between them and dozens of additional works on paper that represent a challenge in which Porter and Davison have repeatedly responded to one another’s work over the past several months. In sheer numbers, Porter dominates...

2010 began on a dark note for artist Christopher Davison. His Disasters Are People Too series kicked off the year, and much like a poet or musician wearing his heart on his sleeve through words, Davison displayed his innermost feelings through strokes on canvas. The series was a reflection of the year 2009 — a difficult year of transformation of Davison. Through the black-and-white gouache paintings featuring dismembered, mangled body parts floating...

The new critically acclaimed Hole album, Nobody's Daughter, features artwork by Gretchen Ryan on the album sleeve. The work entitled Accident, features six young girls chained together walking off a cliff led by a white dove. Courtney Love, a long-time supporter of the artist specifically wanted this image included in the album artwork. Gretchen, a long-time fan of Hole and Courtney Love, was thrilled to be included in this collaboration between art and music.

Knock Knock: Who's There? That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore examines the delicate relationship between art and humor, and—it must be said straightaway—you won't find it a laugh a minute. But that's not the point. Sarah Murkett and Elana Rubinfeld who co-curated the show in two New York venues—Armand Bartos Fine Art and Fred Torres Collaborations—make it plain that the intention is to explore the various ways artists have used humor to address more serious issues. As such, the choices in the show are...

The drawings of Christopher Davison could keep you up at night—dark and visceral with narratives that flow freely from moments of striking metamorphosis. His series “End of Summer,” for example, depicts reclining figures entangled with their landscapes in ways both intimate and eerie: A figure births branches from his abdomen; a yellow woman is submerged in a landscape of organ-like plants. Born in a trailer in the small town of Gallipolis, Ohio, Davison started drawing as a child. His environments...

Gian Lorenzo Bernini's heirs are alive and well and working hard in Philadelphia. Artists like Christopher Davison at Jaskey/Tower and Hunter Stabler at Pageant Soloveev--each in their own way and both with contemporary techniques and subject matter--express the same high emotional content, drama and dark beauty as the great 17th-century practitioner of twist, swirl and angst. Hallmarks of the baroque are exquisite craftsmanship, ornate patterning, obsessive attention to detail and ecstatic...