DAVID LACHAPELLE

BORN: 1963, Connecticut

EDUCATION:

North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem, NC
Art Students’ League, New York, NY

OVERVIEW:

David La Chapelle began taking photographs in high school. At the age of 18, he moved from North Carolina to New York's Lower East Side. After a chance meeting with Andy Warhol, he began shooting for Interview Magazine, the place he calls "art school." He is a product of 1970s youth, sub-divisions, suburbia, pot-smoking, and a mom with a knack for appropriating a fantasy life onto film. His color is vibrant and his subject matter is confrontational and surreal, distinguished by his campy fixation with white-trash culture. The artist is also known for his groundbreaking use of computer manipulation in both still photography and film. He is renowned for futuristic fashion shoots and his use of well-known Hollywood celebrities as subjects.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

2007   "David LaChapelle: Heaven to Hell," Malba Museum, Buenos Aires, Argentina
            "Awakened," Goss Gallery, Dallas, TX
            "Awakened," Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY
            "Men, War & Peace," Helmut Newton Foundation, Berlin, Germany
            "Heaven to Hell," Jablonka Gallery, Berlin, Germany
            "The Other Side #2," Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY
2006   VIP: Very Important Portraits, Capodimonte Museum, Naples, Italy
            "Pictures for Italian Vogue," Staley Wise Gallery, New York, NY
            Maruani & Noirhomme Gallery in Collaboration with La Galerie Du XX Siecle Gallery, Paris, France
            Kals 'Art Exhibition, Palermo, Italy
2005   Goss Gallery Grand Opening, Dallas, TX
            Reflex Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
            Maruani & Noirhomme Gallery, Knokke, Belgium
            "Artists and Prostitutes," Deitch Gallery, New York, NY
            Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY
2003   "All American," Montblanc International, Rockfeller Center, New York, NY
            Moscow Photo Festival, James Gallery Moscow, Russia
2002   Barbican Gallery, London, United Kingdom
            Kunsthaus,Wien, Austria
            "All American," Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY
            "LaChapelle," Kunsthaus, Vienna, Austria
2001   "Fish Stick," Camerawork Berlin, Germany
            "Photology," Villa Impero Bologna, Italy
2000   Galleria Carla Sozzani, Milan, Italy
            Hot Flash at Palacia Pombal, Lisbon Portugal
            Fahey Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
            "Femmes plus que femmes," Museu de Arte Brazileira Sao Paolo, Brazil
1999   "Photoplus Expo," Jacob Javits Center, New York, NY
            20th Festival de la Mode Galleries, LaFayette, Paris, France
            Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY
            "Fish Stick," presented by Tony Shafrazi & Interview Magazine Float, NY
            Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy
            "The Beautiful & Bizarre," School Of Visual Arts, New York, NY
1998   Palacio Pombal, Lisbon, Portugal
            ”LaChapelle Land," Les Rencontres D'Arles Arles, France
            “LaChapelle Land," Parko Tokyo, Japan
            "LaChapelle Land," Staley Wise Gallery, New York, NY
1997   "Photology," Milano, Italy
1995   "Javier", Cibachromes Trabia MacAfee, New York, NY
1993   "PomPom Croissant," Tomoko Ligouri Gallery, New York, NY
1991   "Facility of Movement," Tomoko Liqouri Gallery, New York, NY
1989   "Don’t Bungle the Jungle" (Group Exhibition), Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY
            "The Center Show" Group Exhibition, The Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center, New York, NY
            "Mirrors Of God" & "Intervention St. Lucy," Trabia- MacAfee Gallery, New York, NY
            Santa Fe Center for Photography Exhibition, CA
            "Life Never Dies," Slide Exhibitions Mars, New York, NY
            "Somewhere Better," Trabia-MacAffee Gallery, New York, NY
            "Grand Windows," Group Exhibition Grand Central Station, New York, NY
            "Your Needs Met," 56 Bleecker Gallery, New York, NY
            "Taking Pictures is Fun," Palladium, New York, NY
1984   "Angels, Saints, Martyrs," 303, New York, NY
            "Good News for Modern Man," 303, New York, NY

AWARDS:

1999    Second place on CNN’s list of “20 to Watch in 2000”
1998    Life Magazine’s Alfred Eisenstadt Awards for Magazine
Photography Best “Cutting Edge Essay” and “Style Photography”
1997    Best Book Design for LaChapelle Land, Art Directors Club Award
1996    VH-1 Fashion Awards Photographer of the Year Award
Applied Photography of the Year Award,The International Center of Photography
1995   American Photo Magazine, Best New Photographer of the Year

BOOKS:

2006   Heaven to Hell, Taschen Publishing
            LaChapelle, Artists and Prostitutes, Taschen Publishing
1999    Hotel LaChapelle, Callaway Editions
1996    LaChapelle Land, Callaway Editions

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