The moment when Madonna hired David LaChapelle was the moment when things took a nosedive. “She would yell something at me. And I didn’t understand why she was yelling at me. [This] conversation was just going on and on,” LaChapelle recounted the infamous phone call in 2005 (CNN, 2011). “She was screaming at me, and I finally just got really quiet.” That went on for a while and Madonna eventually said, “David? David? Are you there?”
LaChapelle: “Yes, I’m still here.”
Madonna: “Hold on.”
Click.
LaChapelle hung up.
Satirically, LaChapelle hung up on “Hung Up,” the music video that which he was hired to direct.
LaChapelle’s music agent, who was sitting next to LaChapelle, was shocked. Looking like the female version of Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone, his agent uttered: “You just hung up on Madonna.”
It was a pivotal moment in LaChapelle’s life, because it was the first time the workaholic said no to work. Saying no was easy after the first instance, said LaChapelle. It was liberating “to think that I didn’t have to work for pop stars or magazines anymore and that I would never have to shoot the latest video by Britney Spears again” (Trebay, 2011). Few months later, the artist found himself in Maui, Hawaii.
David LaChapelle / Amanda Lepore
David LaChapelle
Growing up as a child and teenager in America, LaChapelle would enroll in every art program offered by the school (Von Speidel, 2011). He didn’t graduate high school, however. And his fear of becoming homeless would later turn him into a workaholic. The artist reflected: “I did not know how to say ‘no.’ I worked 14 months without taking a day of vacation. I was 30 pounds overweight and drinking so much. I was not nice to the people around me, and I was even worse to myself.”
Albeit unhealthy, LaChapelle’s hard work paid off, and on he went to become a sought-after fashion and celebrity photographer, working for the likes of Interview, Rolling Stone, Vogue, and Vanity Fair. Along the way, he’s also published books, directed films, music videos, and controversial ads, as well as exhibited his work all over the world.
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David LaChapelle / Chris Rock
Noted for his over-the-top Pop photographic style, along with his surreal, sexual, satirical, and sometimes grotesque aesthetics, LaChapelle has taken unforgettable portraits for a plethora of personalities, among them David Bowie, Mariah Carey, and Naomi Campbell. “I love glamour. I love beauty. And I love flesh,” he explained. “I don’t set out to shock. I just try to make something beautiful” (Cho, 2011).
Listen: David Bowie’s Earthling/Paper Sleeve Box
Hung Up on Madonna
After 20 years of 14-hour days, with his self-financed film Rize to worry about at the time, LaChapelle was driven over the edge by stress when the Queen of Pop screamed her lungs out, so he hung up.
David LaChapelle / Lady Gaga
Weary of “celebrity hysteria,” LaChapelle moved to Maui in 2006 and created an organic farm. The artist said he spent his time praying and meditating in the nature. He desired returning to the art he had made before he became a celebrity photog.
Several months later, LaChapelle got a call asking whether he was interested in presenting his work at galleries. “I never thought I would be asked back to that world again,” he recalled. “I thought I was going to be a farmer.”
David LaChapelle / Anna Nicole Smith
That call led to his solo exhibition in 2007. As if describing his state of mind, the exhibit was titled Awakened, with works inspired by religion and the universal flood narrative in the Bible.
LaChapelle said he still photographs celebrities but only those whom he considers as friends, including Courtney Love, Amanda Lepore, and Lady Gaga.
Relish: Behind-the-Scenes Photographs of Lady Gaga by Terry Richardson
David LaChapelle / Cameron Diaz
David LaChapelle’s Detractors and Supporters
To this day, even with a dozen awards under his belt, LaChapelle’s detractors maintain that he’s “unserious” and “gimmicky” (Trebay, 2011):
“He’s one of those artists who’s heavily entrenched in the fashion world, and that has, historically speaking, been kind of a dirty word in the fine-art and auction-house worlds,” said Joshua Holdeman, a photography specialist at Christie’s.
“He has a very particular theatrical and situational way of looking at things,” said Dennis Freedman, now creative director of Barneys New York and formerly the creative director of W magazine. “For me, to be interesting, the work would have had to go a lot further and be a lot tougher.”
David LaChapelle / Carmen Electra & Dave Navarro
Yet, supporters of LaChapelle insist that the artist exists in a new territory:
“I’m well aware that there are connoisseurs of photography and art and stylish magazine editors who don’t endorse his work,” said Jeffrey Deitch, the director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
“David exists in this new territory, in the collapse between vanguard and pop culture, and it’s a very interesting space,” he added. “Look at the pictures of Lil’Kim or Christina Aguilera or the pictures he did of Amanda Lepore as Andy Warhol’s ‘Liz’ and you see that he’s really an important part of image making in our time.”
David LaChapelle / The Disaster Series
Fond of his art or not, it’s no denying that demand and prices for LaChapelle’s works have grown by incredible exponents in recent years, reports Trebay (2011).
David LaChapelle Seoul Exhibition
Decide for yourself at David LaChapelle, a retrospective featuring more than 160 pieces of the artist’s work spanning his 25-year career, including his recent projects and earlier works commissioned for fashion and celebrity editorials.
Held at the Hanman Design Museum at Seoul Arts Center in Seoul, Korea, David LaChapelle is on view now through Feb. 26.
Get best airfares to Korea now.
Photographic Books by David David LaChapelle
- Hotel LaChapelle
- David Lachapelle: The Rape Of Africa
- David LaChapelle: Heaven To Hell
- David LaChapelle: Earth Laughs in Flowers
Featured Photo: David LaChapelle / Alexander McQueen & Isabella Blow
References
Cho, J.-e. (2011, November 24). David LaChapelle brings his over-the-top art to Seoul. Retrieved January 17, 2012, from Korea JoongAng Daily: http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2944552
CNN. (2011, September 7). Interview with Artist, Photographer, Filmmaker, and Director David LaChapelle. Retrieved January 17, 2012, from CNN: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1109/07/ta.01.html
Trebay, G. (2011, May 27). David LaChapelle: An Unexpected Life. Retrieved January 17, 2012, from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/fashion/david-lachapelle-from-photographer-to-artist.html
Von Speidel, K. (2011, July 19). DAVID LACHAPELLE. Retrieved January 17, 2012, from BOMBlog: http://bombsite.com/issues/1000/articles/5714
| When: | Back to Calendar » November 22, 2011 – February 26, 2012 |
|---|---|
| Contact: | http://dlcseoul.com/ |
| Categories: | Korea |
| Tags: | Amanda Lepore Andy Warhol Christina Aguilera Courtney Love David Bowie David LaChapelle Lady Gaga Madonna Mariah Carey Naomi Campbell |
| Where: | Seoul Arts Center's Hanman Design Museum South Korea Seoul, Seocho-gu, Seocho-dong 700 |
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