Chelsea Gives Grand Welcome to David LaChapelle

by Rachel Egan

Wednesday April 4, 2007

While carousing about the city last weekend, I ended up in Chelsea surrounded by Pabst Blue Ribbon-drinking, pseudo-intellectuals. Soon enough, gallery-hopping with hipsters led me to the Tony Shafrazi Gallery (544 W 26th St), where Awakened by David LaChappelle was opening. David LaChapelle is a pop-surrealist photographer, using computer manipulation to place his portraits of celebrities in idiosyncratic and sexualized settings. His work has gained much commendation as it has condemnation over his portrayals of Kayne West as Jesus for a Rolling Stone magazine cover and other juxtapositions of reality, fantasy, and faith.

This was the first time I had seen his work in non-print form and I am pleased to report that it certainly exceeded my expectations. The first room in the gallery provided a beautiful transition to the other works in the exhibition, both literally and figuratively, with a flooded chapel scene and submerged altar boy as preludes to the following rooms. Additionally, there were photos of immersed Lourve-esque galleries which helped emphasize the Romantic Neo-Classical nature of subsequent pieces. Much of this is speculation, seeing as there was no artist statement provided.

Misunderstood heroes were often featured on a large scale within Romantic paintings. Similarly, LaChapelle often uses Amanda Lepore, his iconic transsexual muse, in numerous photographic works on an epic scale, as well as burlesque queens and e-scene celebrities representing Byronic figures for the 21st century. Rather than exclusively portraying Page Six personalities, many of the series depicted suburbanites in frumpy clothes floating through water. Ironically, these pictures of seemingly unattractive and unimportant models are titled after Biblical characters.

My favorite piece in Awakened was “Deluge,” I giant multi-framed image of numerous models writhing with horror at the collapse of The Forum in Casear’s palace. Upon first glance, I immediately thought of Gericault’s “The Raft of the Medusa,” inspired by the shipwreck of the French frigate La Meduse. Both pieces are brimming with delirium and despondency. I remember reading somewhere that Gericault used friends as models, such as fellow painter Eugene Delacroix; it is also a known fact that LaChapelle also uses his friends from underground LA and NY nightlife within pictures. Classically nude, these figures mourn over the destruction of consumerist culture with the collapse of the plastic Vegas pediment ushering the end of society.

“Deluge” is a reprsentative of Awakened as a whole; both aesthetically and intellectually riveting. The exhibition runs from February 24 to April 28 and is definitely a show not to be missed. For more information on David LaChappelle and the Tony Shafrazi Gallery, visit http://www.tonyshafrazigallery.com.