David Lachapelle, best known for taking the last photograph of Andy Warhol before his death in 1987, is a well known Surrealist Photographer and Director who works within the fields of Fashion, Fine Art and Advertising. After Andy Warhol took a keen eye to him in his teens, his work has blossomed around the world for his unique, surreal and sexually influenced work. His works invite humour and controversy, which is why he's currently favourite with the famous.
My House, New York (1997)
By Ben Patrick Johnson
NEW YORK, 3 March 2000 - By its very nature, the work of American photographer David LaChapelle invites controversy. One observer at New York magazine called LaChapelle "the Fellini of photography," while another of the same periodical's writers suggested, "David LaChapelle should have his artistic license suspended."
If asked to describe his efforts, one might begin by calling them manic. But, in terms of art, such a label is ambiguous. Mania can be the ferment of genius left to languish by a public that cannot or will not understand an artist's intentions. Or it can be the product of an individual, with little to say, who takes an audience's passing attention to his protestations as a testament to the viability of his message and its delivery. Think of the garrulous child who, having earned faint praise from parents for some clumsy living room theatrics, insists on repeating his performance twenty-five times.
LaChapelle's prominence is primarily as an advertising and celebrity portrait photographer. As such, his oeuvre is accessible and sampling it is as easy as flipping through recent editions of French Vogue and the American magazines Rolling Stone, Interview and Detour. If one subscribes to the theory that advertising is among the truest barometers of a society's collective psyche at any given time, LaChapelle's relevance may be gauged by his garish spreads for Camel cigarettes and the signature, surrealistic scenes he dreamed up for Diesel jeans ads. As with his other work, there's invariably too much color, too much going on, and whatever an audience of aesthetes might think, that's how LaChapelle likes things.
NEW YORK, 3 March 2000 - By its very nature, the work of American photographer David LaChapelle invites controversy. One observer at New York magazine called LaChapelle "the Fellini of photography," while another of the same periodical's writers suggested, "David LaChapelle should have his artistic license suspended."
If asked to describe his efforts, one might begin by calling them manic. But, in terms of art, such a label is ambiguous. Mania can be the ferment of genius left to languish by a public that cannot or will not understand an artist's intentions. Or it can be the product of an individual, with little to say, who takes an audience's passing attention to his protestations as a testament to the viability of his message and its delivery. Think of the garrulous child who, having earned faint praise from parents for some clumsy living room theatrics, insists on repeating his performance twenty-five times.
LaChapelle's prominence is primarily as an advertising and celebrity portrait photographer. As such, his oeuvre is accessible and sampling it is as easy as flipping through recent editions of French Vogue and the American magazines Rolling Stone, Interview and Detour. If one subscribes to the theory that advertising is among the truest barometers of a society's collective psyche at any given time, LaChapelle's relevance may be gauged by his garish spreads for Camel cigarettes and the signature, surrealistic scenes he dreamed up for Diesel jeans ads. As with his other work, there's invariably too much color, too much going on, and whatever an audience of aesthetes might think, that's how LaChapelle likes things.
Surrealism within fashion design
From looking at David Lachapelle, I've moved on to looking at Fashion Design. Viktor & Rolf are an Amsterdam based fashion house who specialise in the custom design of surreal clothing. For example, the image above shows their design of a bed dress. I feel i can relate the design to the works of David Lachapelle and Surrealism.
Philip Treacy also plays on Surrealism with his designs. Lada Gaga demonstrates his design of the "Lobster Hat" - Lada Gaga often creates controversy throughout her fashion and style.
