david lachapelle. interview with one of photography's brightest stars ..............................................................................................................................
......................... shop .................. competitions .............. education ................ interviews ................... snapshots ................... history .......... contemporary ---
david lachapelle david lachapelle was born in connecticut, north carolina in 1968. he studied at the art student's league and north carolina school of arts. at age of 19, mr. lachapelle went to new york where he met andy warhol. he began his photography career created by warhol. david lachapelle is a photographer who tends to create his own visionary world, rather than reproduce what's visible in the world, a photography style that can be compared to no one. david lachapelle has evolved his photography into an idiosyncratic and highly personal combination of reportage and surrealism. lachapelle is one of photography's brightest stars, bringing high intensity, larger than life images to the pages of magazines worldwide (as i-D, arena, the new york time magazine, rolling stones, vogue, the face, the london sunday times and vanity fair). --- initially distinguished by his campy fixation with white-trash culture, lachapelle is also known for his groundbreaking use of computer manipulation and futuristic fashion shoots and for placing hollywood celebrities -- from madonna, uma thurman, elton john to drew barrymore to the X-files' david duchovny -- in wildly imaginative and often compromising erotically charged settings. la chapelle's monstrosities are that breed of gaunt, blemishless human built and enslaved by heavy makeup, lighting and the glorifying voodoo of photographic attention, e.g., models, transsexuals and ... leonardo di caprio. it is a prophecy of even scurvier spiritual illness yet to come from our media-centric society, in the not-so-distant future. --- in the last years he also created music videos: the station promo he directed for MTV, which recast a scene from the tragi-camp classic 'whatever happened to baby jane with an aging courtney love and madonna; the 'natural blues' video for moby... --- recipient of the 1997 international center of photography's infinity award and the 1996 VH1 fashion award for photographer of the year, la chapelle creates images that are cultural cues as well as advertising campaigns for such prestigious accounts as estee lauder, prescriptives, volvo, levis, diesel jeans. his first book 'lachapelle land,' was published by callaway editions / simon & shuster in november 1996. in 1999 followed his second book 'hotel lachapelle'. --------------------------------------------------- his first major retrospective show in italy, galleria carla sozzani, milan september 27 to november 4, 2001 http://www.galleriacarlasozzani.org --------------------------------------------------- --- we met david la chapelle at the galleria carla sozzani in milan on september 27th, 2001 ---	david lachapelle © designboom the invitation card lil'kim
what is the best moment of the day? hopefully its the day I'm out taking pictures what kind of music do you listen to at the moment? I listen to a lot of cat stevens, but since 2 weeks ago, since the 11th. I've been listening to the beatles. my whole philosophy is to like more than to not like, so I try to like everything. what books do you have on your bedside table? I just finished a biography of tenessee williams, and now I'm trying to readall of his plays. I have a collection of his plays, there are a lot of them, but his biography was so great, its the second time I read it. do you read fashion and design magazines? I don't read them but I look at the pictures. where do you get news from? the grapevine. do you notice how women are dressing? do you have any preferences? undressed. what kind of clothes do you avoid wearing? I try to avoid wearing clothes as much as possible. do you have any pets? no pets, just pet peeves (laughs). I used to have dogs and then my friends dog ate them so I gave up on pets. where do you work on your photographic projects? all over. anywhere, everywhere I am. who would you like to photograph? michael jackson what did you want to be when you were a child? a photographer (my mother was a non professional photographer). do you discuss or exchange ideas with your colleagues? oh yeah, all the time. there's an artist in anyone, I'll ask a person on the street, 'what do you think of this?', I'm always asking people to collaborate. describe your style, like a good friend of yours would describe it. escapist fantasies, celebratory, beautiful. you're often called a new surrealist. do you think this suits you? yeah, I've heard that...you can call me anything you want. I'd rather be called a new surrealist rather than other things I've been called in my life. please tell us more about photography and digital technology. well the computer is slave to the camera, because without a good photograph all the technology in the world doesn't take a good picture. you have to have a good photograph to begin with. which of your projects has given you the most satisfaction? everything here, that's on these walls, has given me the most satisfaction. because there are a lot of photographs that don't make it. every picture I've taken is from the past, but its the ones in the future that I'm looking forward to taking most. are there any photographers that you particularly appreciate? a lot, nan golden, helmut newton... a lot. what about architects and designers? there are so many fashion designers, I love them all, I find the world a much easier place to live in if you like more than you dislike, there are so many critics walking around, everyone's a critic, and they always have to criticize, but I think its much easier to live and enjoy everything. [ see the quicktime clip, 600 kb ] on the news broadcast they said that italians are afraid of unemployment, criminality and pollution. what are you afraid of regarding the future ? unemployment, being a criminal and polluting the world myself (laughs). --- ------- monthly designboom newsletter ------- ------- ? comments and contact us ? -------	las vegas, flaunt, 1998 'the surgery story' his first book 'la chapelle land' his second book 'hotel lachapelle' portraits of 'hotel lachapelle' 'the surgery story' in 'hotel lachapelle' naomi campell playboy cover