Biography

David LaChapelle was born in Connecticut in 1968, his love for taking photographs started at the age of six after taking a photo of his mother in a bikini holding a martini glass. At the age of 19 Lachapelle went to New York after attending the North Carolina School of Arts, where he enrolled at both the Art Students League and the School of Visual Arts. His photography career began in the 1980's in New York City galleries. With shows at 303 Gallery, Trabia McAffee and others, his work caught the eye of his hero Andy Warhol. With Warhol as his inspiration, he began his photography career when  Interview Magazine editors offered him his first professional shoot.



'My pictures are about getting as far away from reality as possible. Dreams should be part of our everyday life.’... ‘I never wanted to be famous. I always wanted to take famous photographs.’ Biography for
 David LaChapelle (IMDB).


David LaChapelle has a photographic style like no other. He creates his own ‘visionary world’, instead of reproducing what the world sees and describes his work as ‘escapist fantasies, celebratory, beautiful.’(Designboom interview in Milan 27/9/01) David LaChapelle’s photography is peculiar to most and extremely personal. It consists of lots of make-up, lighting and props and uses them to make bold statements of gender, class and sexuality. He takes celebrities, men, women, and transsexuals and recreates them in an image of extreme stereotypes. His work is a combination of reportage and surrealism with unforgettable images in magazines all over the world such as Arena, the New York Times magazine, Rolling Stones, Vogue, The Face, The London Sunday times and Vanity Fair. In more recent years LaChapelle has also created music videos for the likes of MTV, live theatrical events, and documentary film. His directing credits include music videos for artists such as Christina Aguilera, Moby, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, The Vines and No Doubt. His stage work includes Elton John's The Red Piano which just recently ended its five year run in Las Vegas. His interest in film led him to make the short documentary Krumped, an award-winner at Sundance from which he developed RIZE, the feature film acquired for worldwide distribution by Lions Gate Films. The film was released in the US and internationally in the Summer of 2005 to huge critical acclaim, and was chosen to open the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.


‘Initially distinguished by his campy fixation with white-trash culture, LaChapelle is also known for his groundbreaking use of computer manipulation and futuristic fashion shoots and for placing Hollywood celebrities (Madonna, Uma Thurman, Elton john to Drew Barrymore to the X-files' David Duchovny) In wildly imaginative and often compromising erotically charged settings.’ Designboom 2001