XM: THE BIG INTERVIEW: DAVID LACHAPELLE

The big interview: David LaChapelle

At the height of his fame, artist and photographer David LaChapelle stepped out of the world of fashion photography. Now he is in charge of his own deadlines, working on an eclectic range of art projects including commercials and movies. Here we exclusively ask him about his latest work (entitled The Rape of Africa) that is now on show at Galerie Alex Daniels – Reflex Amsterdam.

Interview: Rosanne Kropman

It takes some courage to leave a world where you are seen as the best in your field. But that's what revered photographer David LaChapelle did. Only three years ago the award-winning photographer shot for magazines like Vogue, Vanity Fair and Harper's Bazaar. Countless celebrities such as David Bowie, Naomi Campbell, Paris Hilton and politicians including Hillary Clinton happily frolicked in front of his lens.
"After Vanity Fair and Vogue, it was time for me to stop. I live my life continually, making decisions based on the way I feel", he says, speaking to XM exclusively from the US. "It was time for me to finish, so I stopped. Shooting for magazines was a device for me to get pictures out into the world", he continues, explaining that he loved appealing to a broad audience. "I still like the idea of things being accessible, printed and duplicated for a large, young audience. For me it was an easy way to access everything in America culture to comment on and to use. The way of working gave me the tools for what I wanted: to get my ideas across. It gave me an audience."
When asked what the biggest differences were between magazine work and being an artist he answers:" In magazines the turnovers are so fast. The way I know. I don't have composed deadlines, only my own. It gave me time to reflect. If you change your life, the work you create also changes.

The Rape of Africa
And change it did. Looking at his most recent work called The Rape of Africa, now exhibited in the Gallery Alex Daniels-Reflex Amsterdam, it seems his lightheartedness and optimistic cynicism of his early career (where Lil'Kim was photographed stencilled in the Louis Vuitton logo) has made way for themes from Renaissance.
The Rape of Africa is based on Sandro Botticelli's Venus and Mars painted in 1484 – the last decades of the Dark Ages. From the actual photo, it doesn't become entirely clear where the violence of the title is represented. A serene Naomi Campbell as Venus and a snoozing Mars are sitting in a released pose. Around them rotund cherubs are playing with heavy armoury. Apparently somebody blew a hole through their perfect hideout exposing a distorted landscape.
LaChapelle is purposely not clear on what he wants to say with the image. "Explaining the picture would diffuse from the reason of making it", he says. "To each person it's a different story. It can be about the mother who bore us, and it can be as precise or as broad as people perceive it. In a more general sense, it is about greed and humanity, and the struggle between love and war. It's the layers that I'm trying to integrate in my work."
But what drove LaChapelle to make this image, his style remain the same, but the theme of Rape of Africa is 100 per cent different to the jovial images commenting on the life and lovers of America's jet set.
"The story and the mythologies behind it are so potent, so symbolic for this day and age, that there was a reason for this picture", he says. "It represents the goddess of love and beauty versus the god of war", he says,"For me that internal struggle is interesting. We have progressed so much, but we're still dealing with the same issues since the dawn of civilization; War is there all the time – look for instance as the Roman Empire. Now we have other wars, the most recent one in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is destroying human lives and land".

Religion
Just like in many Renaissance paintings, religion plays an important role in The Rape of Africa. But not in the way it did the Renaissance. In fact LaChapelle would have been sent straight to jail if he had lived in the time Botticelli's painting was made, since it is a blunt comment on missionary work in Africa. He explains:"In this painting there is a big role for the missionary work in Africa, trying to spread one idea. Metaphorically Venus is having a broken cross around her neck. This is about propagating a religion on different cultures. That it's still going on today. It's an ongoing process"

Hawaii
LaChapelle lives in Hawaii now, having changes New York for Los Angeles and moved further west wards from there recently. Hawaii probably suits him with its bright colours and paradise-esque landscapes. And indeed his next project will be related to a garden of Eden-like surrounding. According to LaChapelle: "I don't miss anything, I feel very challenged and fulfilled about what I'm doing. It's a different chapter. I could have been working for magazines my entire life. But you have to change if it doesn't feel right. In some ways it is difficult if you're at your highest point".