DAVID LACHAPELLE
PHOTOGRAPHS

6 June - 22 September 2002, daily 10.00 - 19.00 hrs

The KunstHausWien is proud to announce another highlight of international photography in 2002 in Austria: for the first time the work of David LaChapelle.

"David LaChapelle is the Fellini of photography." -- New York magazine

"Mr. LaChapelle is certain to influence the work of a new generation of photographers in the same way that Mr. Avedon pioneered so much of what is familiar today." -- Amy Spindler, The New York Times

"His imagination has no brakes on it." -- James Truman, editorial director of Condé Nast

"David LaChapelle is as creatively fertile as 30s rule-breaker Salvador Dalì... He delights in taking sex and voyeurism and giving them an outrageous, unmistakably contemporary twist." -- Ingrid Sischy, Interview

David LaChapelle was born in Connecticut in 1968. He originally studied fine arts at North Carolina School of the Arts before moving to New York in the mid 1980s. There he met Andy Warhol and encountered Pop Art first-hand. He decided to become a photographer, eventually landings his first professional job at Warhol´s Interview magazine.

Throughout the 1980s LaChapelle became well-known as a photographer in the New York art world. In the early 1990s he began to take photographs of celebrities and fashion for magazines such as Details and London´s The Face. He developed a signature style, characterized by super-saturated colors and the shocking poses and contexts in which he got celebrities and models to appear. He has been photographing famous subjects and fashion for magazines ever since. His images are now seen regularly in such publications as Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, The London Sunday Times, i-D, Flaunt, Arena, Interview, and Vanity Fair, among others. He is currently under contract with Vanity Fair. Selections of his work have been brought together in two books, LaChapelle Land (1996) and Hotel LaChapelle (1999), and exhibited in galleries and museums internationally.

LaChapelle has done advertising campaigns for a variety of clients including Pepsi, Camel, Levi´s, Diesel Jeans, and recently the Got Milk? campaign. He has completed commercial projects and print advertisements for Armani Jeans and MTV, as well as commercials for Sprite, Comedy Central, and Citibank. He shot the entire print campaign for the MTV 2000 Video Awards, and has photographed numerous album covers and packages for such artists as Whitney Houston, No Doubt, Perry Farrell, Lil´ Kim, Elton John, and Madonna.

In addition to his still photography LaChapelle directs music videos for select artists. His haunting video for Moby´s "Natural Blues" featuring Moby as himself as an old man and Christina Ricci as an angel, had a huge presence in the music video industry in 2000. At the MTV Europe Music Awards, "Natural Blues" was named Best Video of the year, the result of a popular vote of over 7 million viewers. It was also nominated in the U.S., in the MTV Video Awards´ "Best Male Artist" category, and for best "Visionary Video" at the VH-1/Vogue Fashion Awards. LaChapelle´s follow-up to "Natural Blues", the video for Elton John´s "This Traint Don´t Stop There Anymore" with ´NSYNC´s Justin Timberlake as Elton in his Seventies heyday, premiered on MTV in mid-January.

David LaChapelle divides his time between New York and Los Angeles.

AWARDS

1995 Named "Best New Photographer" by both French Photo and American Photo magazines

1996 "Photographer of the Year Award" at the VH-1 Fashion Awards; "Applied Photography of the Year Award" from The International Center of Photography

1997 Art Directors Club Award for Best Book Design for LaChapelle Land

1998 Won for Best "Cutting Edge Essay" and "Style Photography" at Life magazine´s Alfred Eisenstadt Awards for Magazine Photography (the Eisies)

1999 Honored in the "Cover of the Year" category at the Eisies; placed second on CNN´s list of "20 to Watch in 2000"

2000 Won "Best Video" for Moby´s "Natural Blues" at the MTV Europe Music Awards

EXHIBITIONS

STALEY-WISE GALLERY - "LACHAPELLE LAND"
New York - November 8 through November 30, 1996

GALLERIA PHOTOLOGY - "LACHAPELLE LAND"
Milan, Italy - March 7 through April 30, 1997

PARCO GALLERY - "LACHAPELLE LAND"
Tokyo, Japan - March 30 through April 15, 1997

WHITNEY MUSEUM - "THE WARHOL LOOK / GLAMOUR STYLE FASHION" (Group Show)
New York - November 9, 1997 through January 18, 1998

BASS MUSEUM - "FASHION AT THE BEACH" (Group Show)
Miami Beach, Florida - January 7, 1998 through January 3, 1999 (Traveling show)

LES RENCONTRES D´ARLES - "HOT FLASH"
Arles, France - July 5 through August 16, 1998

PALACIO POMBAL - "HOT FLASH"
Lisbon, Portugal - September 17 through December 11, 1998

PALAZZO DELLE ESPOSIZIONI - "HOTEL LACHAPELLE"
Rome, Italy - March 20 through May 24, 1999

TONY SHAFRAZI GALLERY
New York - June 4 through September 15,1999 (Traveling exhibition)

FUNDAÇAO ARMANDO ALVARES PENTEADO -
"FEMMES PLUS QUE FEMMES" (Group Show)
Sao Paolo, Brazil - May 4 through June 4, 2000

FAHEY/KLEIN GALLERY
Los Angeles, California - May 25 through July 15, 2000 (Traveling exhibition)

BALDWIN GALLERY
Aspen, Colorado - December 29, 2000 through February 14, 2001 (Traveling exhibition)

VILLA IMPERO
Bologna, Italy - May 5 through July 28, 2001 (Traveling exhibition)

CAMERA WORK GALLERY
Berlin, Germany - September 7 through November 23, 2001 (Traveling exhibition)

GALLERIA CARLA SOZZANI
Milan, Italy - September 26 through November 4, 2001

THE EXHIBITION WAS SUPPORTED BY:

AUSTRIAN AIRLINES, KURIER-CLUB, HILTON VIENNA, EUROCITY, WOMAN, DER STANDARD Kulturanzeiger, YUMYUM COMMUNICATIONS, BARTA & PARTNER, LAVAZZA