It may be that you don't know him, but we can be nearly certain that you have seen his work. He shocked the world in 2002 with Christina Aguilera's music video Dirrty and during the 1990s to mid-2000s was involved in many another music videos you saw on TV or high-fashion photo shoots you came across in famous magazines. He has worked with Madonna, Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse, Blink 182, Elton John, Mariah Carey, Gwen Stefani and Usher, just to name a few. His first major solo exhibition in the Netherlands is now on display at the Groninger Museum. Just before the opening, we spoke with David LaChapelle (1963). ‘Many works exhibited here play with the idea of beauty and bad taste; a shaky line I like to play with.’
To be honest, this is a milestone for the Groninger Museum. David LaChapelle is a world-class photographer and his influence on contemporary photography and pop culture is awe-inspiring. His colourful, surrealist works blend kitsch, bad taste and sensuality with beauty, metaphysics, religion and the Renaissance.
LaChapelle's work is multifaceted, complex, and sometimes looks contradictory in its essence. It is work that needs some introduction. This is the man who has captured almost every celebrity on film, only to promptly set it all aside to start an organic farm in Hawaii. These are all things that you can still see in his work. The exhibition therefore shows more than 70 works spread across several rooms. Each room covers a different period or phase within LaChapelle's work.
ANDY WARHOL
One of the most personal works in the exhibition, and one of the most modest, is the final portrait of Andy Warhol. This intense yet intimate portrait of modest size also reflects the intimate relationship with Andy Warhol. At a young age, LaChapelle ran away to New York where he then came to work as a photographer for Warhol's magazine Interview. It was thanks to this job that LaChapelle also began working for other magazines such as Vogue and Rolling Stone. Warhol remained a mentor to LaChapelle until his death.
The connection to Warhol and other celebrities gives LaChapelle's work an edge: at the height of his career, his name was synonymous with pop culture. Despite the fact that LaChapelle temporarily stopped being a photographer, this will always be a part of his output. We also see celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga in recent works. However, this now clashes and fuses with spirituality, religion and doomsday scenarios.
With works such as Jesus is My Homeboy and Deluge, LaChapelle explores traditional religious scenes in a contemporary setting. Through the Paradise series which the exhibition ends with, he suggests an alternative to doomsday scenarios.
YOUR WORK OFTEN MIXES ELEMENTS OF HIGH-FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE RENAISSANCE: WHERE DOES THIS COME FROM?
‘I have learned to communicate through beauty. Beauty grabs the attention and is a powerful way to communicate. This was already true in Ancient Greece, and beauty was widely used in the Renaissance. Magazines, on the other hand, always use beauty to sell promises, but I always found that to be a paradox: everything is all about money and status, yet we are on the threshold of massive climate change caused by our obsession with fossil fuels and materialism. Many works exhibited here also play with the idea of beauty and bad taste; a shaky line I like to play with.’
A SIGNIFICANT DETAIL IN YOUR MOST RECENT WORK IS THAT MOST OF IT IS ALL ANALOGUE: HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?
‘For over twelve years — at the beginning of my career — I worked mainly in the darkroom; first with black and white and then with colour. I continued with that again when I left for Hawaii in 2005. You can also see that the colours were hand-painted because the handiwork is still evident and drops and stripes can be seen on the images. Behold (2016), for example, is a hand-edited analogue negative. For example, with the wreath around his head, you can also see blue drops from the paint and so on. The photos that did get shot digitally comprise the most work for the shoot. All sets are meticulously constructed, and everything actually has to be in them already. That works better for me than sitting at a computer all day.’
RELIGION IS A CONTINUOUS THEME IN YOUR WORK. THAT IS RATHER REMARKABLE FOR SOMEONE ALMOST SYNONYMOUS WITH POP CULTURE, WHICH ESCHEWS SUCH CONTROVERSIAL TOPICS. IS IT DIFFICULT TO QUESTION THINGS LIKE THAT?
‘That's certainly difficult too and especially when it comes to Christianity. Usually people immediately think you mean it as a joke or that you're trying to ridicule it, but that's definitely not what it's about. Other religions are okay to talk about, but as soon as you talk about Christianity it immediately becomes more sensitive, especially in the United States. People immediately think that what you are trying to do is sacrilege. Whereas if you look at all religions, they are more similar than different. There are multiple ways and ways of seeing things.’
YOU ALSO SHOW A FIXATION ON MATERIAL PROSPERITY, AND WHAT WE SEE A LOT OF IN ONE OF THE ROOMS AT THE EXHIBITION ARE GAS STATIONS AND REFINERIES. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?
‘The most significant event in our recent history is the discovery of fossil fuels and how to use them. We use it as fuel and make packaging from it, and in turn there are many other uses. This has brought about tremendous development, both good and bad. It is now the new generation that has to deal with it. I don't really consider it particularly good or bad; it just is. I almost have a Buddhist stance on it: it is what it is. But something has to be done.’
IT'S INTERESTING THAT YOU'VE MADE SEVERAL NEGATIVE COMMENTS ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA. IS IT TRUE THAT YOU'RE NOT ON ANY SOCIAL MEDIA?
‘That's right. I think social media is a new way of not really being busy. It disrupts the things that are really important because you are constantly distracted. Yet, especially as an artist, there is no clear path or roadmap you can follow. Everything depends on your intuition.
When I decided to stop working with celebrities I thought, “I'm done with this. Now that I don't work with celebrities anymore I can do whatever I want”. But then in 2006 a German gallery called and wanted to exhibit my work. I could never have done that if I hadn't listened to my intuition and stopped doing commercial photography. You should always be able to find a balance in your life, so that you can also be alone and sit in silence and go with your gut feeling.’
Those who want a behind-the-scenes look at how some of the photos in the exhibition were constructed, visit here.
LaChapelle: Good News for Modern Man is on display at the Groninger Museum until 28 October 2018.
Text: Dinnis van Dijken
Image (in slider):
David LaChapelle, 2018, photographer: Marthe van de Grift.
Overview of exhibition Good News for Modern Man, 2018, photographer: Marthe van de Grift.
Detail shot, David LaChapelle, Lightness of Being, 2017, photographer: Marthe van de Grift.
Image (in text):
David LaChapelle; Andy Warhol; Last Sitting, November 22, 1986, Artsy.
David LaChapelle, The Earth Laughs in Flowers, 2011, Groninger Museum.
David LaChapelle, Behold, 2016, Groninger Museum.
David LaChapelle, GAS AM PM, 2013, Groninger Museum.
David LaChapelle, Landscape - Kings Dominion, 2013, Groninger Museum