University of Groningen Seismic Shift. with David Lachapelle in The
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University of Groningen Seismic Shift. With David LaChapelle in the Museum Haveman, Anna-Rosja; Blühm, Andreas IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 2018 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Haveman, A-R., & Blühm, A. (2018, apr). Seismic Shift. With David LaChapelle in the Museum. Groninger Museum. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). The publication may also be distributed here under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license. More information can be found on the University of Groningen website: https://www.rug.nl/library/open-access/self-archiving-pure/taverne- amendment. Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date: 05-10-2021 Seismic Shift With David LaChapelle in the museum Foreword and Word of Thanks LaChapelle. Good News for Modern Man is LaChapelle’s classics as well as his most support, an exhibition of such scale and quality the first major exhibition of David LaChapelle’s recent work. In close consultation with the would have been impossible. work in a Dutch museum. Or rather, it is the first artist, the curators have opted for a thematic ever exhibition of his work in the Netherlands approach with a didactic character. We analyze Reiner Opoku served as guest curator and his at all. This is something we are proud of, but it LaChapelle’s complex compositions and follow contribution was of inestimable value. is also slightly odd, as LaChapelle, who is now his search for a new world. 55 years old, already boasts a long and fruitful For their tips, contacts and inspiration we would career. The fact is that the established art scene For those who wish to explore the artist’s work like to thank Laurens Besselink, Alice Cantig- This publication appears for the occasion of the has not exactly embraced him; his editorial in greater depth, there is Taschen’s stunning niau, Alex Daniëls, Charlotte Desaga, Sonia exhibition LaChapelle: Good News for Modern Man work for magazines such as GQ, Vanity Fair, two-volume publication Lost + Found and Good Digianantonio, Martina Gattoronchero, Leonard at the Groninger Museum, 21 April 2018 t/m and Vogue did not fit with the picture. And that News. In this appendix you will find an essay Goetz, Michael Kaune, Peter de Kimpe, Martine 28 October 2018. is while LaChapelle actually satisfies almost about LaChapelle’s iconic work Seismic Shift. Krips, Sandrine Lalonde, Irene Lombardo, Rudo Seismic Shift is acquired in 2018 with the support of all the requirements that people would usually At the Groninger Museum we are very proud Menge, Gianni Mercurio, Mieke Mesker, Con- the Rembrandt Association, thanks to its Titus Fund demand of an artist: He is original and has a that we have been able to acquire this work for suelo Nocita, Xavier Roland, Marlene Taschen and its mr Rickert J-F. Blokhuis Fund. personal signature; his photos are meticulously our collection. Staged photography is one of and Cornel Wachter. © David LaChapelle composed and technically virtuosic; his themes our spearheads. Seismic Shift has numerous are critical and have impact, are simultaneously things in common with our collection and our Anna-Rosja Haveman has made an important © Photo SCALA, Florence topical and timeless. museum philosophy. The photos by LaChapelle contribution to the research around Seismic © Museum Associates / LACMA. Los Angeles (CA), are not a question of museological navel-gazing Shift and as the assistant for this complex Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The Groninger Museum has a long tradition but deserve full attention. His work is complex project she effectively served as the overall © 2018. Digital Image Museum Associates/LACMA/Art in the presentation and collection of work by and rich in details and allusions that only manager, a role in which she was supported by Resource NY/Scala, Florence image-makers who are active beyond the divulge their meaning on closer consideration. the Groninger Museum’s entire team. © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre)/Jean-Gilles realms of the canon. Many of them are now part With our essay we hope to offer novel insights Berizzi and parcel of our collective cultural heritage, into LaChapelle’s art, and we are grateful to Last but not least, we wish to thank the artist such as the Australian aboriginals, New York’s the Rembrandt Association for their generous himself. Many of his images were already seared © 2003-2004 Takashi Murakami / Kaikai, Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved graffiti artists, and the German neo-expression- support for this acquisition. into our minds, even before we connected name ist Neue Wilde artists. Our museum has always and photo. When we subsequently turned our © Jeff Koons paid attention to the fashion photography and We also wish to extend our thanks to Studio focus to the photos, LaChapelle helped us to We have endeavored to regulate the rights of the staged photography of artists such as Inez David LaChapelle and its marvelous staff for the discover his rich visual universe. To our delight, illustrations according to the legal provisions. Those van Lamsweerde and Erwin Olaf. We there- intensive collaboration: Johnny Byrne, Amanda the artist himself has been closely involved with who nevertheless believe they can assert certain rights fore expect that David LaChapelle will feel at Crommett, Ghretta Hynd, Kirsten Iverson, the exhibition’s realization. We can treasure can contact the Groninger Museum. home with us, with regard to work as well as Hennadiy Kvasov, Kumi Tanimura, Daniel Plea- happy memories of his engaging personality and Copyright on artworks of visual artists affiliated to a character. coff, and Glen Vergara. The studio is the most the fact that he was so keen to share his art with CISAC-organisation has been arranged with Pictoright important lender for the exhibition, followed many people. in Amsterdam. Exceptional about this exhibition is that it is by the Maruani Mercier gallery in Brussels and © c/o Pictoright, Amsterdam 2018 more than a retrospective. We are showing Galerie Daniel Templon in Paris. Without their Andreas Blühm, April 2018 David LaChapelle, Seismic Shift, 2012, chromogenic print, 183 x 452 cm, Groninger Museum Acquired in 2018 with the support of the Rembrandt Association, thanks to its Titus Fund and its mr Rickert J-F. Blokhuis Fund On 16 November 2017, a Salvator Mundi from the scene. And that is a shame, because 2013). In 2009 and 2012, LaChapelle collected attributed to Leonardo da Vinci was auctioned LaChapelle not only possesses a highly dis- pieces of discarded wax figures in Dublin and at Christie’s New York for the exorbitant sum of tinctive signature and a breathtaking technique, Hollywood, photographed them and thus gave US$ 450,312,500. Setting aside the question of but he also has something to say. Anyone who them a new – albeit dubious – lease of life. whether this work can be (partially) attributed to categorizes him as a man who photographs Leonardo, why was it offered in an auction for celebrities is selling him short. He holds up a A highlight in LaChapelle’s endeavor to gain an modern and contemporary art, rather than in mirror to celebrities, but also to us as self-ap- artistic hold on the changeability of everything an auction with other Old Masters? An expert pointed art lovers. And that mirror reveals that must be or wants to be modern is his answered that question in an interview with the more than just the attractive sides of fame and ambitious Seismic Shift from 2012. An analysis sarcastic comeback: “Because 90 percent of it wealth. Or, as was recently articulated by writer of this photographic museum landscape can was painted in the last 50 years.”1 Dan Piepenbring in The New Yorker: “Very serve to gain a better insight into the artist’s popular people doing very unpopular things.” 3 mode of thinking and working. Seismic Shift Having recovered from the initial shock, What on first encounter seems like an over- perhaps we should also be glad that old art whelming staging of his photos distracts from The building that is on the point of collapse With David LaChapelle in the museum still sparks such enthusiasm. Old art was once the fact that strictly speaking David LaChapelle in Seismic Shift is the Broad Contemporary modern, and at a certain point modern art is a realist. He brings truths to light. Art Museum (BCAM), which is part of the Andreas Blühm and Anna-Rosja Haveman becomes old. But even though factors such Los Angeles County Museum of Modern Art as style, the circumstances under which the One of those truths is the aforementioned fick- (LACMA). The steel girders with their bright red work is created, and the market situation are leness of taste, ethics, and morals. LaChapelle color are an unmistakable feature. This building constantly shifting, the criteria that determine walks with the curious eye of an artist and a was designed by Renzo Piano, who, after the judgment of quality remain surprisingly gaze sharpened by training and experience creating the Centre Pompidou (1977) in Paris stable.