DAVID LACHAPELLE

David LaChapelle was born in Connecticut in 1963. He started his career working for Interview magazine. At the age of 17, he was noticed by Andy Warhol. LaChapelle soon became famous for his hyper-realistic and vivid portraits of celebrities. His models were, among others, Paris Hilton, Muhammad Ali, Britney Spears, Madonna, and Tupac Shakur. LaChapelle worked on advertising campaigns for many famous brands, including Nokia, Diesel, L’Oréal, Lavazza, Tommy Hilfiger, and H&M. He won numerous awards not only for his photographs (the last one being the Artist of the Year from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in 2012), but also for his work as a director (Special Juried Recognition, Sundance Film Festival in 2004, Best Video, MTV Europe Music Awards in 2000). His photographs are included in private and state-owned collections, including the Bayerische Staatsoper Portrait Gallery (Munich, Germany), the museum of La Monnaie de Paris (Paris, France), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (USA), the Louis Vuitton Foundation (Paris, France), the National Portrait Gallery (London, UK), and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. In his modern works LaChapelle addresses metaphysical topics, thus commenting on modern culture through the prism of art history and religious iconography. He quotes many authors, including Baroque masters Andrea Pozzo and Caravaggio, whose art is especially significant to him. Critics believe that LaChapelle was influenced by Salvador Dali, Jeff Koons, Michelangelo, and Cindy Sherman, and they describe his works as satirical, shocking, fanciful, and surrealist. They also note that LaChapelle’s photographs are spectacular and powerful thanks to his sense of humor, reflecting the artist’s sensitivity to the political and social contexts surrounding him.