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An exhibition dedicated to one of photography’s greatest talents and of international fame, David LaChapelle, turned legend thanks to his originality and extravagance. It will be hosted at Lu.C.C.A. - Lucca Center of Contemporary Art from June 29th – November 4th.
Reunited are 53 photographs by LaChapelle, which will tell the story of his formation in ten sections. The first is Star System, which explains how the public image of a famous person not only overlaps with his real identity, but heavily conditions the relationships he/she has with people and things in life. La Chapelle, in the series dedicated to famous individuals coming from the world of music, cinema and fashion, highlights artists’ vices, passions and phobias, artists who can no longer permit themselves to have a so called “private life”. Playful and provocative poses intermingle sensuality, irony and kitsch. Like “Elton John: Egg on His Face” where the star, sitting in a humble setting, has his breakfast eggs on his eyes while maintaining a stoic position. In “Lady Gaga: Metropolis” the singer seems to be the star of a commercial for a concert on another planet. In the work dedicated to Paris Hilton, the star’s explosive beauty is highlighted by theatrical lighting and typical smoke for rock concerts reminding us that everything has its price.
The second series is entitled “Deluge” and is a warning to society that has become a victim of its own laws, imprisoned by the unwritten regulations that need to be respected by those who try to slice themselves a piece of pie in the sky. From this understanding of reality, LaChapelle exposes such works like Cathedral, where a group of people of different ages pray inside a church inundated with water, A real ‘neo-apocalypse’, where water- the symbol of the source of life and center of regeneration – undermines the solemnity of holy places of glitz and purifies society from vices. This series is born from the study LaChapelle did on the Sistine Chapel, which led the artist to sharpen his approach to pop culture and to revisit in a contemporary light the works by Michelangelo.
“To the Flowers” is the third series. “Earth laughs in Flowers” an interesting path that arrives at the understanding of the great masters of the past. The title is taken from the poem Hamatreya by Ralph Waldo Emerson, in which flowers correspond to the laughter of the Earth in the face of arrogance, ignorance and bullying of humankind.
The fourth series is entitled “After the Pop” and the fifth series is called “Distruction and Disaster” with iconographic references to Warhol. But the aim of the work is more ironic than celebratory and features models who, in surrealist fashion, appear sadly beautiful, among completely destroyed settings like ravishing fires, collapse, and natural disasters.
The sixth series is entitled “Excess” and gives voice to obsessions and sexual greed accompanied by individuals who in appearance seem completely normal. LaChapelle stages scenes of erotic fantasy, voyeurism, exhibitionism, fetishism, sadistic habits, masochistic tendencies and bondage, highlighting how this type of excess is tied to the desire to be self-affirmed, combined with a cerebral pleasure that is not vital.
“Plastic People” is the seventh series of photographs which calls upon the physical stereotype of every type of beauty that must be acquired at all costs because it is society that requires it. Bodies swollen by body-building practice, bodies forever ruined by plastic surgery and invasive surgery, all these images are testimony of the idea that what is believed to be beautiful is actually ridiculous and grotesque and becomes an obsession. LaChapelle’s muses become Pamela Anderson, Courtney Love and Amanda Lepore and show deformed bodies, violated bodies, bodies that are almost non-human.
The eighth series “Dream evokes Surrealism” beyond being tied to the universe of conscious illusion, makes many literary references: for example in the opera “Kirsten Dunst: Bell Jar,” the actress of “the Virgin Suicides” directed by Sofia Coppola and based on the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, poses within a glass bell.
The ninth series, “Art References”, shows the Birth of Venus, inspired by the Renaissance masterpiece by Botticelli. The work, envisioned by the photographer to be a regal symbol of love, of pure sentiment and far from the material world and places an ironic shell at her nether regions instead of the long blond hair employed by the Florentine artist. Even the shot entitled “Angelina Jolie: Lusty Sping” is inspired by a preceding artwork. The Ecstasy of St. Theresa by Baroque artist Bernini. The photograph focuses on the moment of transformation, the instant in which God accepts the heart of the Saint. In the sculpture by Bernini, the saint’s face is docile and innocent, turning toward the heavens, her eyes closed and lips pursed. In the photograph by LaChapelle, the body is tense and covered while the face turned upwards shows an open mouth and closed eyes, revealing a different kind of grace, an ecstasy that involves the soul more than the heart and the body.
For more information: www.luccamuseum.com
Reunited are 53 photographs by LaChapelle, which will tell the story of his formation in ten sections. The first is Star System, which explains how the public image of a famous person not only overlaps with his real identity, but heavily conditions the relationships he/she has with people and things in life. La Chapelle, in the series dedicated to famous individuals coming from the world of music, cinema and fashion, highlights artists’ vices, passions and phobias, artists who can no longer permit themselves to have a so called “private life”. Playful and provocative poses intermingle sensuality, irony and kitsch. Like “Elton John: Egg on His Face” where the star, sitting in a humble setting, has his breakfast eggs on his eyes while maintaining a stoic position. In “Lady Gaga: Metropolis” the singer seems to be the star of a commercial for a concert on another planet. In the work dedicated to Paris Hilton, the star’s explosive beauty is highlighted by theatrical lighting and typical smoke for rock concerts reminding us that everything has its price.
The second series is entitled “Deluge” and is a warning to society that has become a victim of its own laws, imprisoned by the unwritten regulations that need to be respected by those who try to slice themselves a piece of pie in the sky. From this understanding of reality, LaChapelle exposes such works like Cathedral, where a group of people of different ages pray inside a church inundated with water, A real ‘neo-apocalypse’, where water- the symbol of the source of life and center of regeneration – undermines the solemnity of holy places of glitz and purifies society from vices. This series is born from the study LaChapelle did on the Sistine Chapel, which led the artist to sharpen his approach to pop culture and to revisit in a contemporary light the works by Michelangelo.
“To the Flowers” is the third series. “Earth laughs in Flowers” an interesting path that arrives at the understanding of the great masters of the past. The title is taken from the poem Hamatreya by Ralph Waldo Emerson, in which flowers correspond to the laughter of the Earth in the face of arrogance, ignorance and bullying of humankind.
The fourth series is entitled “After the Pop” and the fifth series is called “Distruction and Disaster” with iconographic references to Warhol. But the aim of the work is more ironic than celebratory and features models who, in surrealist fashion, appear sadly beautiful, among completely destroyed settings like ravishing fires, collapse, and natural disasters.
The sixth series is entitled “Excess” and gives voice to obsessions and sexual greed accompanied by individuals who in appearance seem completely normal. LaChapelle stages scenes of erotic fantasy, voyeurism, exhibitionism, fetishism, sadistic habits, masochistic tendencies and bondage, highlighting how this type of excess is tied to the desire to be self-affirmed, combined with a cerebral pleasure that is not vital.
“Plastic People” is the seventh series of photographs which calls upon the physical stereotype of every type of beauty that must be acquired at all costs because it is society that requires it. Bodies swollen by body-building practice, bodies forever ruined by plastic surgery and invasive surgery, all these images are testimony of the idea that what is believed to be beautiful is actually ridiculous and grotesque and becomes an obsession. LaChapelle’s muses become Pamela Anderson, Courtney Love and Amanda Lepore and show deformed bodies, violated bodies, bodies that are almost non-human.
The eighth series “Dream evokes Surrealism” beyond being tied to the universe of conscious illusion, makes many literary references: for example in the opera “Kirsten Dunst: Bell Jar,” the actress of “the Virgin Suicides” directed by Sofia Coppola and based on the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, poses within a glass bell.
The ninth series, “Art References”, shows the Birth of Venus, inspired by the Renaissance masterpiece by Botticelli. The work, envisioned by the photographer to be a regal symbol of love, of pure sentiment and far from the material world and places an ironic shell at her nether regions instead of the long blond hair employed by the Florentine artist. Even the shot entitled “Angelina Jolie: Lusty Sping” is inspired by a preceding artwork. The Ecstasy of St. Theresa by Baroque artist Bernini. The photograph focuses on the moment of transformation, the instant in which God accepts the heart of the Saint. In the sculpture by Bernini, the saint’s face is docile and innocent, turning toward the heavens, her eyes closed and lips pursed. In the photograph by LaChapelle, the body is tense and covered while the face turned upwards shows an open mouth and closed eyes, revealing a different kind of grace, an ecstasy that involves the soul more than the heart and the body.
For more information: www.luccamuseum.com
