When an artist is discovered and employed by Andy Warhol, their path to pop culture greatness is laid out before them, but first there has to be the talent and drive to succeed present in spades, and on those fronts there are few in the world of photography that can hold a light meter to David LaChapelle. His fashion work in the 1990s cemented his place in the photography hall of fame, but even when shooting supermodels, LaChapelle’s work had the ability to transcend the superficial, and in his most recent non-commercial work that exceptional eye for exposing hidden depths is beautifully, and often unsettlingly, evident.
Speaking of stellar starts to your career: Stockholm gallery Fotografiska signed LaChapelle up as their first ever exhibitor, and he is back there with a new collection. Burning Beauty is the American’s largest ever exhibition, focused on his post-2005 independent work. In these images he turns a magnifying glass on the modern world and its inhabitants like a child torturing ants on a hot summer day – what he sees is all at once uncomfortable, even painful, yet darkly humorous. Catch this outstanding collection before 3rd March 2013.
Death By Hamburger, 2002
© David LaChapelle,
courtesy of Fred Torres Collaborations,
New York
Sarah, 2007
© David LaChapelle,
courtesy of Fred Torres Collaborations,
New York
Aer the Deluge: Cathedral, 2007
© David LaChapelle,
courtesy of Fred Torres Collaborations,
New York
Uma Thurman: Gossip, 1997
© David LaChapelle,
courtesy of Fred Torres Collaborations,
New York
Icarus, 2012
© David LaChapelle,
courtesy of Fred Torres Collaborations,
New York
The Beatification: I’ll Never Let You Part For You’re Always Part of My Heart, 2009
© David LaChapelle,
courtesy of Fred Torres Collaborations,
New York
