GRA//DES.

I am a big fan of the photographer David LaChapelle. With a trademark style of highly saturated colours, often descirbed as "hyper-real and slyly subversive", his images covertly express personal social and theoretical opinions with great relevance and satire. Not only are his photographs clever and conceptual, they are also hard-hitting and eye catching.The vivid colours are highly sensational at first sight, something that is important to note in his work. Many people will see the clear surface-level message portrayed in his images, without seeing the deeper messages communicated within. This quick, simplistic approach is also something that LaChapelle plays with with a variety of the models he uses too, such as Paris Hilton, above. Although world-famous and wanted, she has a reputation for ignorance, which LaChapelle has secretely played on. Thinking she is being portrayed as a star, she strides confidently out, flanked by her essential security guards, dazzled by paparazzi camera flashes. What she doesn't seem to realise, however, is that LaChapelle has surrounded her with litter, effectively comparing her to nothing more that trash under your feet. This is a view of celebrity I share, particularly those who are famous for next to nothing, such as Hilton. Furthermore, perhaps the people behind the rather austere metal-fencing behind Hilton, such as that wearing the mask of the infamous Joker, hints at underlying threats to Hilton, something that is ever-more threatening to celebrities today. Once again, on first glance, you maybe wouldn't see this detail, highlighting the hidden messages LaChapelle is so infamous of expressing.

I have also chosen to highlight the picture of Dolly Parton, bottom right. This image shows the world-famous Hollywood transformed into 'Dollywood', expressing how Dolly Parton monopolised the famous California movie scene in her time. LaChapelle has also dressed Parton in green, almost camouflaging her into the landscape scene; she is entrenched in the Hollywood hills, part of the furniture. The way that LaChapelle has made Parton seem like a giant in relation to her mini-model surroundings expresses a feeling of her dominance, and perhaps ego, in Hollywood. LaChapelle's signature hyper-realised colour also works well here; the phrase 'seen through rose-tinted glasses' springs to mind; everything is beautiful, perfect and life is apparantly bright for Parton.

The final image I have chosen by David LaChapelle, entitled 'I Buy Big Car For Shopping', seems to refer to our obsession with material things, and an ever-growing occupation with food, and in particular, fast food. Furthermore, it also highlights the rapidly growing size of products, from food to homes to drinks, which contributes to obesity or a feeling of superiority which is such an integral part of the material world we now live in. Part of his 'All U Can Eat' series, a clear correlation between America's ever expanding waistline and unhealthy attitude to food, this image shows a women standing almost proud, blood spattered, infront of presumably her car which she has crashed into a mega can of one of the word's most famous drinks; Coca-Cola. There also seems to be something or somebody underneath the car. However, the she does not seem to be affected by this, instead standing hauntingly proud and serene in the foreground.  Maybe the fact that she has a big car, or she is well-dressed gives her the opinion that she is more important and powerful that whoever she has just crushed. This is a growing concern for me in our world today, as people seem to think they have superior status over others, which they have based on heinously simple objects or opinions. I feel that this is only going to become more prevalent in future years, which greatly saddens me, as, in my opinion, we are all absolutely equal. 

The product placement in this image is also very important. Coca-Cola is the world's most popular soft drink, apparantly selling 130 BILLON litres per year (a figure that rapidly grows year on year). The fact that LaChapelle has used such an legendary brand here would not only attract people, as it has been proved we like familiarity, but, on a deeper level, also asks questions about such brands and thir prevalence in the consumerist world we now live in. The fact that he has created an enourmous can of coke highlights the untenable supremacy of the Coca-Cola brand. Here, the mega-can towers above everything, maybe hinting at how the addiction we have with such brands today towers above many other, questionably more important and natural, things, such as faith and morals, few of which as depicted here in the evocative sight of the bloody model in the foreground.

LaChapelle's fascination with consumerism and celebrity stance, as well as his studies of how our world is changing at an alarmindly rapid rate, is something that I am very much interested in. The variety of messages and themes in his work is also very clever, and the scholarly approach he takes to his art is clear to see, as well as his unfailing relevance to the ever-changing world we see around us today.