Early fine-art photography LaChapelle was affiliated in the 1980s with
303 Gallery which also exhibited artists such as
Doug Aitken. After people from
Interview magazine saw his work exhibited, LaChapelle was offered work with the magazine. When LaChapelle was 17 years old, he met
Andy Warhol, who hired him as a photographer for
Interview while he was still in high school. Warhol reportedly told LaChapelle "Do whatever you want. Just make sure everybody looks good." LaChapelle's work has been called "meticulously created in a high-gloss, color-popping, hyper-realistic style", and his photos are known to "crackle with subversive – or at least hilarious – ideas, rude energy and laughter. They are full of juicy life." In 1995 David LaChapelle shot the famous 'kissing sailors' advertisement for
Diesel. It was staged at the peace celebration of
World War II and became one of the first public advertisements showing a gay or lesbian couple kissing. Much of its controversy was due to it being published at the height of the "
Don't ask, don't tell" debates in United States, which had led to the U.S. government to ban openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual persons from military service. In a long article published by
frieze in 1996, the advertisement was credited for its "overarching tone of heavy-handed humor and sarcasm".
Awards 1995: "Best New Photographer of the Year" by
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 It is clear that LaChapelle's "new direction highlights his interest and understanding of both contemporary practice and art history". LaChapelle's images "both bizarre and gorgeous have forged a singular style that is unique, original, and perfectly unmistakeable." His photographs have been collected in a number of books.
LaChapelle Land (1996) was selected as one of 101 "Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century" and is "highly valued by collectors". His second book,
Hotel LaChapelle (1999), was described as a "garish, sexy, enchanting trip".
Heaven to Hell (2006) featured "almost twice as many images as its predecessors", and "is an explosive compilation of new work by the visionary photographer".
LaChapelle, Artists and Prostitutes (2006), a limited-edition, signed, numbered book contains 688 pages of photographs taken between 1985 and 2005.
Exhibitions In the first two decades of the 2000s, LaChapelle returned to a focus on fine art photography and exhibited his work in several galleries and museums. LaChapelle has had solo museum exhibitions at the
Barbican Museum in London (2002), Kausthaus Wien in Vienna (2002), Palazzo Reale in Milan (2007),
Museo del Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City (2009), the
Musée de La Monnaie in Paris (2009), the Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei (2010), and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in Israel (2010). and retrospectives at the Museo Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, the Hanagaram Design Museum in Seoul, and Galerie Rudolfinum in Prague. In the following years, LaChapelle's works were also exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in LA (2012), the Musée d'Orsay in Paris (2013), Fotografiska Museet in Sweden (2013) and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. (2014). In 2014, LaChapelle exhibited his series, 'Land Scape' in New York, Vienna, London, and Paris. Other shows include OstLicht Galerie fur Fotografie in Vienna, Austria, MAC Lima in Peru, Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Chile. In 2016, LaChapelle's work was shown at The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, DSC Gallery in the Czech Republic, at several venues in Montevideo in Uruguay and at the Edward Hopper House in New York. In 2018, LaChapelle exhibited 10 of his series in one exhibition,
Good News For Modern Man, in the Groninger Museum (The Netherlands). In 2024, LaChapelle held his first major museum solo exhibition in North America at
Fotografiska New York titled
Make Believe, which was also the museum’s first building-wide show. The exhibition featured over 150 works, combining some of LaChapelle’s most iconic images with new works.
Artistic influences LaChapelle cites a number of artists who have influenced his photography. In a 2009 interview, he mentioned the
Baroque painters
Andrea Pozzo and
Caravaggio as two of his favorites. Helmut Newton has also contributed to the discourse on LaChapelle, stating in a
New York Times article by Cathy Horyn "He [LaChapelle] isn't very impressed by current photography. 'There's a lot of pornographic pictures taken by the young today ...A lot of the nudity is gratuitous. But someone who makes me laugh is David LaChapelle. I think he is very bright, very funny, and good'". LaChapelle is Catholic and often uses religious symbolism in his work. ==Personal life==