'men, war & peace' presents the work of
david lachapelle and james nachtwey alongside
a series of helmut newton's portraits of men.
divided over three spaces, the exhibition has
caused some controversy in the media for its
juxtaposition of lachapelle's hedonistic images with
nachtwey's of war. critics of the exhibition say it isn't
appropriate to contrast such different subject matters
because it devalues the weight of nachtwey's work.
however, by contrasting the worlds of fantasy and
reality the effect is just the opposite and the result is
an incredibly powerful exhibition (curated by
dr. matthias harder).

in the first space, britney spears, eminem, elton john,
amada lepore, pamela anderson and many other
icons of american culture and celebrity hold dynamite,
jump amongst cheetahs, eat watermelon and fish
their way through lachapelle's humorous hypercoloured
world. his work, dedicated to the american dream machine
is always provocative and controversial, never boring.
each setting is designed to be as artificial as possible
and it is these obsessively composed scenarios that
form the stylistic basis for his extraordinary photographs.

the elation felt after viewing lachapelle's work is
quickly crushed as war and its consequences plunge
the viewer back into reality in the second space.
people bleed under blue skies, are hacked by machetes,
blown up by landmines, live, fight, and die in worldwide
conflicts. the images, taken over nachtwey's 26-year
career as a photojournalist are astounding not only for
their realism but also for their composition. they are so
perfect it is difficult to believe they are not staged.
every frame captures the essence of human existence.

the third and final space is dedicated to a series of
newton's portraits of men. his cleverly composed
images reveal both the vanity and imperfections his
models had. it is interesting to see these portraits
of clothed men, because they contradict his reputation
for taking sado-masochistic, erotic shots of women.

---
david lachapelle
was born in connecticut, america in 1969.
he was educated at the north carolina school of the arts
before moving to new york. andy warhol offered him his
first professional job for interview magazine before he
had finished high school. his work, influenced by
everything from art history to pornography, has recorded
and mirrored all facets of popular culture today.

lachapelle has been showcased in numerous galleries
worldwide including the staley wise; tony shafrazi gallery
and deitch projects in new york; the fahey klein gallery
in california; artmosphere in vienna; camerawork in
germany; reflex in amsterdam; the carla sozzani gallery
in italy and at the barbican museum in london. his work
has also been used on the covers of or in magazines
such as italian vogue; french vogue; vanity fair;
rolling stone and id. he is an accomplished director of
music videos, live theatrical events such as elton john's
las vegas show 'the red piano' and documentary film 'rize'.

he has won many awards including:
'applied photographer of the year' from the
international center of photography ; life magazine's
'best cutting edge essay' and 'style photography' at
the alfred eisenstadt awards for magazine photography
(the eisies); cover of the year at the eisies; mtv europe
'best video' award and winner of best documentary at
the aspen film festival for his film 'rize'.
david lachapelle currently spends his time between
hawaii and los angeles.

see designboom's interview with david lachapelle
http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/lachapelle.html

---
james nachtwey
was born in syracuse, new york in 1948.
he was raised in massachusetts and later attended
dartmouth college where he studied art history and
political science. inspired by images from the vietnam
war and american civil rights movement, he taught
himself photography. since his first foreign assignment
covering the IRA hunger strike in northern ireland (1981),
he has devoted himself to documenting wars, conflicts
and critical social issues. he has worked on extensive
photographic essays in el salvador; nicaragua;
guatemala; lebanon; the west bank and gaza;
indonesia; thailand; afghanistan; south korea; sudan;
rwanda; bosnia and chechnya to name a few.

nachtwey has been a contract photographer with
time magazine, was associated with black star and a
member of magnum. in 2001, he became one of the
founding members of the photo agency, vii.
he has had solo exhibitions at culturgest in lisbon;
the international center of photography in new york;
the bibliotheque nationale de france in paris;
the museum of photographic arts in san diego;
the palazzo esposizione in rome; the canon gallery
and the nieuwe kerk in amsterdam; the carolinum
in prague and the hasselblad center in sweden.

honours received include: the common wealth award;
martin luther king award; henry luce award;
robert capa gold medal (five times);
the world press photo award (twice);
magazine photographer of the year (seven times);
the leica award (twice); the bayeaux award for war
correspondents (twice). he is a fellow of the royal
photographic society and has an honorary
doctorate of fine arts from the
massachusetts college of arts.
james nachtwey is currently based in new york.

---
helmut newton
was born to jewish parents in berlin on october 31, 1920.
he was raised in germany until he was forced to
leave because of nazi persecution. he was renowned
for his groundbreaking erotic fashion photography
that is commonplace in magazines today. his fashion
editorials were replaced later in his career by portraiture
when he confessed he would prefer not to photograph
another naked woman ever.

newton worked for magazines such as australian,
italian and french vogue; elle; playboy and nova.
he had exhibitions at: galerie nikon in paris; the
metropolitan teien art museum in tokyo;
the national portrait gallery in london;
the museum of modern art in sao paullo:
the nikolaj contemporary art center in copenhagen
and the joseph haubrich kunsthalle in cologne.

awards received include the tokyo art directors'
club prize; american institute of graphic arts awards;
and germany's kodak award for photographic books.
in 1989 he was named 'chevalier des arts et des lettres'
by the french minister of culture, and in 1992 he was
awarded the 'grosses bundesverdienstkreuz' by the
federal pepublic of germany and the
'chevalier des arts, lettres et science' by monaco.
in 1999 life magazine gave him the 'life legend award
for lifetime achievement in magazine photography'.
he died after a car accident on the 23 january, 2004.

see designboom's interview with helmut newton
http://www.designboom.com/history/newton_interview.html

see designboom's article on the life of helmut newton
http://www.designboom.com/history/helmutnewton.html