David Lachapelle [Anglais] [Relié]

Small book, great pictures, for me is one of the top 5 photographers in the world. So inspiring, so great color control and quality image, you just blow my mind!

This is a gem of a photographic exhibition catalogue. There was only one thing that bothered me about the beautifully done book. It was too small and there is a lot going on in many of LaChapelle's photographs, which was difficult to see because of the volume's 5 1/4 by 7 1/2 inch format. The brief introduction by the curator Davide Faccioli was printed in large type so it was easy to read in either English or Italian, but when the reader turned to the last few pages of the book where the captions and photo titles were printed, it was time to get out the magnifying glass in order to read the 1/16h of an inch high text. And the reader definitely wanted to read that material if only to find out whom the subject of the portrait was. Some of the celebrities have never looked better.
Man Ray and Salvador Dali would have been jealous of this collection while at the same time loving them. They are surreal fantasy scenes and visual puns containing both slapstick and biting humor. LaChapelle takes the traditional approach to people, products and ideas and turns them inside out. One of my favorites from this collection was entitled `Make-Over, Surgery Story, New York, 1997." That shows two topless models in a doctor's office after plastic surgery. One model is black and the other is white. Their heads have been switched to the other model's body. Huge Frankenstein-like stitches accent the surgery that took place. The expressions of the two face and head-switched patients are priceless.
Most of these celebrity portraits are part of much larger fantasy sets. The sets and picture environments are worthy of an Oscar Winning Hollywood Set Designer. They are wonderful and the photographs would still be wonderful even if the human subject of the portrait weren't famous. Tommy Lee is shown sitting in his living room with the rest of his family in 1999. Everyone in the photo is nude including his Mother who is in a wheelchair and wearing an oxygen mask. Madonna floats in a sea of purple fog with a fire-breathing dragon for company--that's the book's cover photo as well. The material girl is a mysterious sexy Siren beckoning the unwary to come closer.
One visual pun was entitled "The Morning After" and shows a semi-clad woman just waking up from a rough night in which the entire world around her was destroyed. A similar photo is entitled "Mama Smoked A Crack Pipe and Wore Fancy Shoes, Las Angles, 2000." In the latter picture Mama must have burned the house down because only her gold shoes still remain in the fire-gutted bedroom.
This fanciful collection of 37 color photographs was from the 2001 one-man exhibition at Milan's "Photology" gallery. In his many later book-length photo essays, the small format was replaced by coffee-table book formats that allow the interested viewer to better see and enjoy the photographs. There is no doubt that David LaChapelle is one of the most creative commercial photographers in the business. And he appears to be having a good time with his celebrity portraits. His portrait subjects are obviously having a blast as well.
This is a fun book that will have the reader both wondering how the photographer got his subjects to cooperate in such silly nonsense and at the same time giggling at the results.

The pix are (as one would expect from LaChapelle) amazing. Visually intriguing, vibrant, eye catching, and entertaining, the book was a great purchase, but it does fall short on quantity. I gave it as a Christmas gift and my recipient paged thru the whole thing standing by the fireplace immediately after opening. Be prepared to greatly enjoy it and be disappointed at the same time. Or at least in a very short span of time.