David LaChapelleLil’ Kim: Luxury Item, New York1999
1999
About the Item
- Creator:David LaChapelle (1964, American)
- Creation Year:1999
- Medium:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU293654471
David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle's highly polished, saturated and intricately composed photographs possess the surreal wildness of fever dreams, concocted as they are out of the imagery of celebrity, eroticism and modern Americana, and spiked with religious allegory and forebodings of doom.
Such work has made him among the most influential art and celebrity photographers of his generation. You might say LaChapelle sprung straight from the head of Andy Warhol, whose campy silkscreen fusions of the glamorous, the transgressive and the everyday forever changed contemporary art.
Like so many young gay artists who came out of the 1980s downtown New York scene, LaChapelle’s escapist visions arose out of a lonely, bullied adolescence. Although born in Connecticut, the photographer spent his early childhood in North Carolina, the youngest of three children. Later, when LaChapelle was in his early teens, his family moved back to suburban Connecticut, but his cowboy costumes and gender-bending ways did not earn LaChapelle friends among his new preppy classmates.
By high school, LaChapelle felt terrorized and suicidal. He fled to New York, where his good looks got him a job bussing tables at Studio 54. It was there that he reputedly first met Warhol, who had been his favorite artist since he first gazed upon a Gold Marilyn, while on a fourth-grade field trip to a museum.
LaChapelle's parents eventually retrieved him from New York, and, sympathizing with his plight, sent him off to the North Carolina School of the Arts. Despite a more embracing atmosphere, he didn’t stay long. A sojourn in London followed. When he returned to New York, around 1983, the punk-inflected downtown culture was churning out gritty new art. Keith Haring’s gay-themed Pop-art graffiti was in everybody’s face, and Robert Mapplethorpe’s S&M photos were on gallery walls.
Having scored a show of his black-and-white photography — already vaguely campy and transfiguration-obsessed — at New York’s then-fledgling 303 Gallery in 1984, LaChapelle attracted the interest of Interview magazine. Warhol was then at the zenith of his influence in both the art world and the downtown scene. Recognizing LaChapelle’s potential as an eye-catching celebrity photographer, he put him on staff, providing him with the creative milieu where his distinctive talent might develop.
There were editorial assignments for i-D, The Face and later for Vanity Fair, Vogue Paris and Rolling Stone. He also made excursions into advertising. One of his most talked about campaigns was a provocative print ad for Diesel jeans inspired by the famous photograph of the V-J kiss in Times Square, but this time showing Tom of Finland–type sailors in passionate embrace.
After being without an editorial home for several years, LaChapelle finally found a base at Details, where he was again encouraged to let his freak flag fly. So arresting were his images that it wasn’t long before “the Fellini of photography,” as New York magazine dubbed him in 1996, was again working for Interview. One of his most emblematic pictures from this era was a Lil’ Kim cover for that magazine, featuring the rapper’s nude body emblazoned with Louis Vuitton insignia (one of the most famous logos in luxury fashion).
Such visually zany, socially astute portraits prompted Richard Avedon to liken LaChapelle to a photographic Magritte, while also winning him invitations to direct music videos for such talents as Christina Aguilera, Moby and Amy Winehouse.
Find a collection of original David LaChapelle photography today on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: New York, NY
- Return PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- Collapse in a Garden, 1995By David LaChapelleLocated in New York, NYSigned by the photographer on label of authenticityCategory
1990s Color Photography
MaterialsC Print
- Lil' Kim: Luxury ItemBy David LaChapelleLocated in New York, NYAvailability is subject to change without notice.Category
1990s Color Photography
MaterialsC Print
- Queen of Hearts, Harper's Bazaar UKBy Erik Madigan HeckLocated in New York, NYSigned by the photographerCategory
2010s Color Photography
MaterialsC Print
- Marquise, ParisBy Ellen von UnwerthLocated in New York, NYThis print is signed by the photographer and is in an edition of 3. Please inquire for additional sizes.Category
1990s Color Photography
MaterialsC Print
- Miley Ray Cyrus: SolitaryBy David LaChapelleLocated in New York, NYSigned by the photographerCategory
2010s Color Photography
MaterialsC Print
- Bicentennial Birthday, Los AngelesBy David LaChapelleLocated in New York, NYSigned by the photographerCategory
2010s Color Photography
MaterialsC Print
- NOMAD V (Film Rebate), New York - Conceptual Architectural Color PhotographyBy Richard HeepsLocated in Cambridge, GB'NOMAD V (Film Rebate)', New York. Richard Heeps has photographed the iconic Empire State building in the mist. The NOMAD sequence of photographs capture the art deco architecture il...Category
2010s Contemporary Color Photography
MaterialsPhotographic Paper, C Print, Color, Silver Gelatin
- Fish & Chip Van, Haddenham, 1993 - British Color PhotographyBy Richard HeepsLocated in Cambridge, GBA moody fenland sky is a backdrop to a classic British Fish & Chips Van. Part of Richard Heeps series, A View of the Fens from the Car with Wings. This artwork is a limited edition ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Color Photography
MaterialsPhotographic Paper, C Print, Color, Silver Gelatin
- Look both Ways - Contemporary, Polaroid, Woman, 21st Century, PsychiatryBy Clare Marie BaileyLocated in Morongo Valley, CALook Both Ways (Shot 2019 on 600 Film) Edition of 10 - 40 x 40 cm - Digital C-Print based on a on a Polaroid, not mounted. Signed on back and certificate. Clare Marie Bailey Works ...Category
2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography
MaterialsPhotographic Paper, Photographic Film, C Print, Polaroid, Color
- Palm Springs Palm Trees VII (Californication) - Polaroid, Contemporary, ColorBy Stefanie SchneiderLocated in Morongo Valley, CAPalm Springs Palm Trees VII (Californication) - 2019 40x40cm, Edition of 10, digital C-Print, based on a Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory Number 22166...Category
2010s Contemporary Color Photography
MaterialsPhotographic Paper, Archival Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid
- David Drebin - Swept Away, Photography 2018, Printed AfterBy David DrebinLocated in Greenwich, CTSeries: FEMME FATALE All available sizes & editions for each size of this photograph: 40" X 26.6"- Edition of 10 60" X 40"- Edition of 7 60" X 40" - Edition of 3; Lightbox In a uniq...Category
2010s Contemporary Color Photography
MaterialsArchival Paper, C Print, Digital
- Lithium - Polaroid, Women, 21st Century, Portrait, ContemporaryBy Kirsten Thys van den AudenaerdeLocated in Morongo Valley, CALithium - 2020 50x50cm, Edition of 7 plus 2 Artist Proofs, digital C-Print based on a Polaroid. Signed on the back and with certificate. Artist inventory PL2020-927. Not mounted. ...Category
2010s Contemporary Color Photography
MaterialsArchival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
David LaChapelle’s Marvelous Make-Believe World Takes over Fotografskia
The Manhattan branch of the Stockholm photography museum has devoted its entire space to the artist's high-gloss, high-impact — and surprisingly political — works.
Kali Is an Art World Sensation, 40 Years after She Hid Her Work Away
A newly discovered trove of her kaleidoscopic works reveals that the enigmatic artist captured the zeitgeist of 1960s Southern California.