World Famous Photographer David LaChapelle Exhibits in Rudolfinum (Portal of Prague)

Until 26th February the Rudolfinum Gallery hosts an exhibition by one of the most famous contemporary photographers in the world, David LaChapelle. Besides his best known work from the turn of the millennium the exhibition, entitled “Tak pravil LaChapelle” (Thus Spoke LaChapelle), also features his newer images. The exhibition puts these in context with his earliest works, which have lain in storage in La Chapelle’s archive for several decades.

LaChapelle as a film-maker

The visual style of David LaChapelle is unmistakable and his way of working in recent years has more resembled that of a film director. The scenes and pictures that LaChapelle photographs are created to the minutest detail according to the Artist’s conception. From the form of lighting, the composition of figures in individual shots, to their costumes and make-up. The particular attraction of the Rudolfinum exhibition lies in his large-format photographs, whose creation is reminiscent of a big-budget feature film.

He even orchestrated a Great Flood

One of these images, for example, is the surrealist Deluge, which portrays a biblical catastrophe in the setting of Las Vegas. In his pictures LaChapelle often shocks with his carefree depiction of naked people in ecstatic situations. His works exhibited in Rudolfinum Gallery, however, are far from being obscene. “I’d really like my pictures to have the effect of music,” said LaChapelle at the vernissage. He compares his work to a creative jam-session. The artist emphasised that his photographs are staged, but they are not digitally enhanced.

On show after 30 years

Apart from the gaudy Hollywood large-format images, after a long time LaChapelle is also showing his black and white and early work from the start of the 1980s, which the artist says he really appreciates about the Rudolfinum exhibition. ”I really thought this work would never see the light of day,” said LaChapelle. The images have spent the past three decades in boxes and many of the models they depict are no longer alive, having succumbed to AIDS in the 1980s.

Court photographer to celebrities

Fourty-eight year old LaChapelle found fame primarily as a photographer for lifestyle magazines. His career began in the 1980s when he photographed famous celebrities for Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. He created portraits of famous people, which will not be missing from the Prague exhibition – for example model Naomi Campbell, singer Marilyn Manson, actress Uma Thurman, singer Björk or the late Michael Jackson.

The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue, which presents the photographer’s work more extensively than the retrospective exhibition. LaChapelle himself regards it as the best catalogue of his work so far. Further information at www.galerierudolfinum.cz.