TIME OUT NEW YORK: STARS OF DAVID
Known for his outrageous celebrity tableaux, photographer David LaChapelle points his camera in a new direction.
By Erin Clements
Courtney Love as the Virgin Mary? Not so surprising when David LaChapelle is involved. The kaleidoscopic lensman's beatific vision of Love graces the cover of Heaven to Hell, a risqué compilation of his recent fashion photography. (The book also sees Britney Spears as a jailbait hot-dog vendor, Amanda Lepore portraying Liz Taylor and Kanye West doing his best Muhammad Ali.) His commercial work is as incendiary as ever, but LaChapelle, 43, is also embracing new, less celeb-driven work, as evidenced in "Awakened," his solo exhibit opening this weekend at Tony Shafrazi Gallery. TONY rang up the former East Village fixture to chat about the current art scene, his bicoastal blonds and why he's in no rush to make another film.
Since this is TONY's Art issue, I'm curious what you think of the state of the art world.
A lot of new work is pretty nihilistic and dark. And you find a lot of art that's derivative. Every once in a while, you come across a clear voice, but you have to wade through a lot to find what's really valid. I think we just have more of everything—there's more fine art being made, more galleries and more interest in art in general.
Has the line between fashion photography and fine art become blurred? Does it even exist anymore?
A lot of fashion photography tries to look like art, but I think it's pretty clear what's what. Fashion has always appropriated the look of whatever's contemporary, but it doesn't usually have a real statement.
Is that why you're switching gears with "Awakened"?
Fashion magazines and celebrity portraiture aren't usually means for self-expression. They're vehicles for selling something, for making people look good. I was always trying to put more content into photos that really aren't supposed to have any depth or subtext. The new images in the gallery show are about what I'm fixating on now. It's a different way of working.
How might the gallery show surprise people more familiar with your commercial work?
There will be two or three rooms of new works that were made specifically for the exhibition. For example, there's a 27-foot mural in which I reinterpret a panel from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, depicting the biblical Flood. I modernized it by setting it in Las Vegas. Other new pieces are portraits of random people—nobody famous. The rest of the show will be works from the recent past, including some from Heaven to Hell, such as Pieta with Courtney Love.
You've created many arresting images of female celebrities—Courtney, Paris Hilton, Pam Anderson. Is there anyone you consider your muse?
To me, Pam Anderson has always been a billboard for the good life of California—golden tan, perfect white teeth and all this hair. In New York, I have Amanda Lepore, who is this idea of someone taking surgery to the extreme. There has never been a face like hers before—you can't find that in art history. Amanda's purely of our time, which I find intriguing.
Speaking of iconic blonds, there's a portrait of Hillary Clinton in Heaven to Hell. Did you have trouble getting her to pose given your provocative reputation?
My pictures aren't for everyone, but she didn't have a problem with that, so that was nice. And I photograph everyone differently. You don't shoot Lance Armstrong the same way you shoot Justin Timberlake or Lil' Kim.
Your 2005 krumping documentary, Rize, garnered a lot of critical acclaim. Are you planning on doing another film soon?
No. Rize was something that I loved and had to do. It was surreal and colorful and dramatic. In L.A., people think the only valid thing to do is make films, so everything is a stepping-stone to being a director. But I grew up in New York, so I don't see life that way.
Heaven to Hell Thu 22 at the Taschen store.