PRIMETIME: DAVID LACHAPELLE
APRIL 9, 2010

Among the 200 photographs on display, David LaChapelle's new exhibition also underlines his preference for transcendent themes, such as a divine presence in everyday matters and the inevitable moment of our death Strolling through sin city
By Dimitri Bruyas
The China Post

An inspiring exhibition featuring artworks of American photographer David LaChapelle is running at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (台 北當代藝術館) until May 30.
As the name of the exhibit suggests, "[Ultimate photographer] David LaChapelle [Asia Tour]" (超潮攝影家 大 衛．拉夏培爾 亞洲巡迴首展) highlights some of the thousands of fashion shoots, global-brand marketing campaigns and portraits of superstars the iconic photographer took during his more than 27 years of working for magazines and television channels. Yet the exhibition also underlines LaChapelle's preference for transcendent themes, such as a divine presence in everyday matters or the inevitable moment of our death, and his faith in the trustworthiness of a person, concept or thing.
"That's the definition of faith: believing in something that can't be proven. Who knows what happens when somebody dies? Who knows if it is just a sleep? We don't know and we will never know," he told The China Post on April 6.

The series "Jesus is My Homeboy" (2003), for instance, was inspired by a popular T-shirt sold through the United States. It shows a group of youngsters wearing urban-wear amongst the figure of Jesus, derived from traditional iconography and surrounded by
a luminous halo. Although the faces of the youths around him transmit an aura of disbelief and sometimes dismay, they seem curious and entranced by the catalyzing force Jesus emits. The scenery shows ordinary places such as the streets, the meeting point for youngsters, fast-food store windows and
run-down domestic interiors. Asked whether his relationship to God was also a source of inspiration, LaChapelle remarked that the source of his creativity is twofold.
"Sometimes, I make drawings and try to experiment myself. I come up with ideas by pushing myself to create," he went on. "I stimulate myself by going to museums; by going through a book of modern art … It stimulates me, my mind, visually."

Meanwhile, the photographer stressed that he has disciplined himself to think preemptively. "I learned this by accepting assignments and working as a magazine photographer," he pointed out. His other source of his inspiration is the "divine" guidance that is granted to him without his knowledge. "When I was a kid, I was having those moments," he recalled. "When I did the series of Angels, it was like: 'I had to do this.' It happened with other recent series of pictures," he explained. In the "Deluge" (2006), which represents a turning point in his career, as it was the first series of works done strictly for artistic expression and not advertising since the 1980s, LaChapelle set his props and models in Sin City, Las Vegas. The city is representative of the excess and artificiality of American culture — the modern day Sodom & Gomorrah.

Respecting the form and composition of Michelangelo's fresco, "The Deluge," in the Sistine Chapel, LaChapelle presents contemporary men and women as players on the stage of the Apocalypse. In spite of this great plight, they help each other, reaching
out hands in search of higher grounds. The message is of hope for the future, that whatever our individual fate or the fate of the world is, mankind will join together and help one another. "I really enjoy living with the idea that there is something more than the material thing … It really opens to any possibility," he noted. "There are things that are supernatural; there are things that are miracles. [They] also eliminate the fear of death. That's the real freedom: Being free for care of money."

Such a concept was also present in "Cathedral" (2007), which addresses the common need to turn to religion or a higher power during time of hardship. It addresses the salvation often found in community and during such difficult time as the group faces the end and the light of hope shines through.

Born in Connecticut in 1969, LaChapelle dropped out of high school, before moving to New York City — the center of pop culture — and becoming a busboy at Studio 54. After a year at the North Carolina School of the Arts, he returned to New York at 18 and landed his first job with Andy Warhol at Interview Magazine. That launched him into a very successful career in commercial photography. Celebrities, including Lady Gaga, Madonna, Amanda Lepore, Eminem, Pamela Anderson, Uma Thurman, David Beckham, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, to name just a few, were drawn to his irreverent style. Meanwhile, he shot for Vogue, GQ and Vanity Fair and directed music videos and commercials for the likes of L'Oréal and Burger King. But a few years ago, the accomplished commercial photographer remarked that he eventually felt depleted.

"My life was out of balance. I didn't want to live that way," he said. "I knew it was time, because you know, there were also signs that when you are opened to possibilities … you
meditate on the questions in your life, you meditate or pray about it … to me I put it in God's hands," he added. Yet, he stressed that God is not the old man with a beard concerned with his sins. "To me, God is another idea, it is a universal consciousness, it is love energy, light energy." His visitation of the themes and subjects from past art and religion form a large output of LaChapelle, as it can be seen in "Pieta with Courtney Love" (2006), which highlights the most famous deaths in history through the most famous deaths in recent popular culture: the suicide of Kurt Cobain. The scene reminds us that no matter the victim, the drama of the sense of loss undergone by those who lose a loved one, extends to embrace all humanity and gives form to a feeling of empathy that is nourished by the photographer's deep interest in art history. "I found that in much of Christian imagery, God is so scary for children," he continued. "The bleeding of the Christ, that's to me the minor part of his life … The shepherd to me is the historical image. That's the real symbol. The shepherd who takes care of the people and gives directions," he concluded. ■