{"id":6153,"date":"2010-07-20T13:18:20","date_gmt":"2010-07-20T20:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=6153"},"modified":"2010-07-25T11:44:04","modified_gmt":"2010-07-25T18:44:04","slug":"david-lachapelle-exhibit-at-tel-aviv-museum-of-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=6153","title":{"rendered":"David LaChapelle Exhibit at Tel Aviv Museum of Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Rape of Africa, 2009, Chromogenic Print, 55' x 123" inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cinematic, larger than life, teeming with detail and almost painterly in their rich, sensual color, the photographs of David LaChapelle compel the viewer\u2019s attention. LaChapelle\u2019s first exhibit in Israel, David LaChapelle: Postmodern Pop Photography<\/em>, will open to the public at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art on Friday, July 23, 2010, with a selection of his work from the past twenty years.<\/p>\n

Known for his fashion and celebrity photographs, LaChapelle left magazine work four years ago to pursue his personal vision, exhibiting in art galleries and museums.\u00a0 The extent of his dedication was demonstrated as he personally guided a group of journalists through the exhibit this past Monday for a preview tour. Cooly casual in a grey T shirt and red baseball cap, accepting the non-stop questions with equanimity, LaChapelle talked about everything from materialism to Magritte, affectionately calling the latter \u201cone of my favorites, a crazy punk rocker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even as a child he knew he wanted to be an artist, yet LaChapelle dropped out of high school, explaining that it was \u201cbecause I was being harassed, I was getting beaten up. In American it\u2019s impossible to be different.\u201d When asked what made him different enough to become a target, LaChapelle did not hesitate to answer, \u201cI wore crazy clothes, I was gay and they could feel that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Expressing both praise and criticism with a relaxed openness and spontaneity, he admires Michelangelo, Picasso, Michael Jackson and Andy Warhol, yet does not spare the Pope, saying: \u201cWhen the Pope visits Africa and his first speech is about the sin of condoms \u2013 to me that\u2019s genocide [referring to a comment made by Pope Benedict XVI en route from Rome to Yaounde in March 2009].\u201d<\/p>\n

Although this is the first time his work is being exhibited in Israel, it is not LaChapelle\u2019s first visit to Israel or the Tel Aviv Museum. He spent time on a kibbutz when he was about 19, probably Sdot Yam. Of the museum he says, with disarming honesty \u201cI was going to say I never dreamed I\u2019d have a show here, but I did. I guess dreams come true. This museum is incredible to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he guided the group through the gallery, he discussed his work. In response to a comment on the strong colors of the current exhibit he said, \u201cI never chose a style, I did what attracted me. In 1984 I started working in black and white, I did that for 6 years, I call them the dark ages. I was working in magazines, learning color printing. This was also the grunge period, everything was de-saturated.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Negative Currency: 100 Shekel used as a negative, 2010, Chromogenic Print, 30" x 57" inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mentioning contemporary photographers such as Bruce Weber and Peter Lindbergh, known for their black and white photography, he said, \u201cI wanted to see the world bright. I was feeling very optimistic.\u201d He recounted one of his experiments with color: \u201cI took a dollar bill and put it in the enlarger and light came through it, and it came out hot pink. That was in 1990. I did it with a shekel [for the forthcoming exhibit] \u2013 it\u2019s so psychedelic. It\u2019s purely as a negative \u2013 there is no digital work here.\u201d As the exhibit was not fully mounted, the photograph Chapelle referred to was still lying on the floor, carefully covered. Eager to show the journalists exactly what he meant, he lifted the foam covering to reveal the psychedelic, giant-size bill.<\/p>\n

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Deluge, 2007, Digital C-Print, 71 1\/4 x 276 inches\/ 180.9 x 701 cm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Of the works included in the exhibit, Deluge<\/em>, a contemporary casting of the onset of the flood, is the first piece he created after quitting commercial work. Inspired by Michelangelo\u2019s paintings of scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, LaChapelle sought to address \u201cthe flood of the future, as a metaphor of the end,\u201d adding cheerfully, \u201cWe\u2019re all going to end.\u201d Despite the fact that many of his photographs address hard-hitting themes, his approach is very optimistic. In this case, LaChapelle drew the journalist\u2019s attention to the fact that \u201ceveryone\u2019s helping each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commenting on the painting, an intricate composition of nude people caught by the deluge, he said, \u201cPhotography is a different language than painting. It\u2019s more difficult to photograph the human figure, because of the connotations of nudity as pornography. In color photographs there is the challenge of rescuing the figure from the dark ages. We\u2019re in a new dark age. In the dark ages the body was considered sinful, in the enlightenment everyone took their clothes off.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

LaChapelle then moved to the \u201cAwakened\u201d<\/em> series of portraits, in which he sought to depict the \u201cmoment between life and death.\u201d He wanted the figures to project \u201ca sort of serenity, [as if they were] unconscious of being photographed.\u201d To achieve that feeling he photographed them immersed in water. He also explained that the clothing was carefully chosen from thrift stores, because, \u201cwe always see [photographs of] ballet underwater with flowing chiffon. I wanted them to be more pedestrian.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Museum, 2007, Digital C-Print, 72 x 96 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The water and flood imagery and associations continue in the photograph Museum<\/em>, which LaChapelle said was \u201ccreated at a time when the art world was talking about prices. You can own a priceless work of art, but unless you can use it as a raft when the flood comes, it\u2019s worthless. You can own a work of art simply go to a museum and stare at a work that you love while you\u2019re in front of it, it\u2019s yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing the possible perceived contradiction between his message of spiritual values with its criticism of over-consumption, and the celebrity images and glamorous style of the photographs, LaChapelle said: \u201cI use beauty as a tool to get your attention. If I were to take ugly pictures no one would look at them. It\u2019s more subversive to use beauty. I bring you in with color, glamour, beauty. I\u2019m trying to get you to look long enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the inevitable question \u2013 yes, he has received some criticism about coming to Israel. Yet on this, as on every other issue, LaChapelle has strong opinions, saying, \u201cIf you really are an artist and you don\u2019t come to Israel, what is that saying? I think it is an act of aggression\u2026passive aggression. Fuck them \u2013 you don\u2019t need them [referring to artists who boycott Israel]. Artists are the ones who are supposed to be bringing the dialogue.\u00a0 Something to aspire to\u2026I love Israel and I love people and I\u2019ve never listened to what people said about me since high school.\u201d<\/p>\n

David La Chapelle: Post Modern Pop Photography
\nCurator: Nili Goren
\n\u00a0Markus B. Mizne Gallery, Gabrielle Rich Wing
\nTel Aviv Museum of Art, 27 Shaul Hamelech Blvd
\nThe exhibit will be open through October 23, 2010<\/p>\n

AYELET DEKEL<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cinematic, larger than life, teeming with detail and almost painterly in their rich, sensual color, the photographs of David LaChapelle compel the viewer\u2019s attention. LaChapelle\u2019s first exhibit in Israel, David LaChapelle: Postmodern Pop Photography, will open to the public at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art on Friday, July 23, 2010, with a selection of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6153\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}