DAvID LACHAPELLE - Reflex Amsterdam

D av id L a C hapelle
THE RAPE OF AFRICA
REFLEX AMSTERDAM
D AV I D L A C H A P E L L E
THE RAPE OF AFRICA
THE RAPE OF AFRICA
Galerie Alex Daniels and Fred Torres Collaborations
Present
David LaChapelle
THE RAPE OF AFRICA
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Colin Wiggins, The National Gallery, London
Fantasy and truth
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
David LaChapelle searches for beauty. He
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
is enraptured by it, obsessed with it. He
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
is captivated by the beauty of the human
body in much the same way as those Italian
John Keats: Ode on a Grecian Urn
painters and sculptors of the Renaissance
who took such delight in representing
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Fantasy - crazy and brash, bright, loud
the body. They allowed the light to shine
and
LaChapelle’s
in and illuminate the naked human
photographs have an instantly recog-
form after centuries of religious prudery
nizable look to them. His pictures evoke a
had kept it in the darkness. One of
world of excess and exuberance, populated
those artists was Sandro Botticelli, who
by beautiful people who are flawless
invented an eroticized ideal that still
and immaculate. When we look into his
holds us entranced half a millennium
compositions, we find ourselves adrift in
after his death in 1510. His Venus and
an ocean of fantasy.
Mars, now in London’s National Gallery,
glamorous.
David
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Sandro Botticelli: Detail: La Primavera, © Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY.
is iconic. It was painted in Florence in
the enduring myth, although anyone with
about 1485 or so. Botticelli’s Venus, the
an ounce of romance would wish it to be so.
Goddess of Love, is one of those rare
In Botticelli’s painting, Venus is dressed
beings, a beauty who no-one can remember
in a diaphanous white gown and is sitting
encountering for the first time. She seems
upright and wide awake. Her companion is
to have been in our consciousness forever.
a total contrast. Male, naked and asleep, we
According to legend, she is based upon the
identify him by his armour and the weapons
celebrated Florentine Renaissance beauty
that four little satyrs have borrowed from
Simonetta Vespucci, who was famed for
him while he dozes. He is, of course, Mars -
her looks and was the tragic victim of an
the God of War.
early death. She was also, apparently, the
War is the bringer of death, grief and
inspiration for the image of Venus in two
destruction. In Botticelli’s painting how-
other great paintings by Botticelli that are
ever, he is vanquished. Look at that floppy
now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence: the
hand. The limply dangling finger tells
Birth of Venus and La Primavera.
you all you need to know about what lies
Despite her position as a respectably
hidden beneath the drape just behind it.
married woman, Botticelli was in love with
Mars is spent. His proud lance is now a
Simonetta, so the story goes. Nobody really
plaything for the little satyrs who are about
knows if any of this is true. It’s just part of
to jolt him from his post-coital oblivion.
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The conch shell will sound a strident
We learn of endless and ancient conflicts
emerge menacingly from the direction
terms. Do as we tell you or be slaughtered.
blast and the god will suddenly wake to
that have no meaning or purpose. These
of Mars’s groin. Look and think carefully
The Romans worshipped Mars because
find himself naked and humiliated, as the
conflicts are fuelled by weapons that flood
because everything has a meaning. The jib
he was always on their side, as they
fully dressed Venus looks on with cold
in from countries that consider themselves
of the crane seems to carve out a kind of
transported their enlightened values to the
condescension. Her expression has a faint
civilized and advanced. We shudder for the
negative pyramid. The pyramids are a great
backward tribes whose lands they invaded
hint of annoyance about it, as she fixes her
victims and then we put them out of our
African monument that are here nowhere
and conquered. In David’s picture, Mars
gaze on the god who has dared to fall asleep
minds and turn back to the gossip pages.
in sight. Instead there is emptiness.
slumbers peacefully. He is surrounded by
on her. Botticelli’s message is plain. Mars
It is just so easy to fall into the belief that
David extends Botticelli’s game of contrast.
the trappings of conquest: bars of gold and
cannot keep up with Venus. He is disarmed
Africa, the Dark Continent, is incurable.
The Italian master opposes male and female,
shiny trinkets, a gilded grenade and pistol.
while she is in control. Love conquers war.
In David LaChapelle’s response to Botticelli’s
asleep and awake, naked and clothed. To
A diamond encrusted skull. And tellingly, a
painting there are three little black boys.
this, David adds another opposite: black
gilded bone.
Two of them are playing with huge guns,
and white. And in doing so he deftly changes
It is these details that speak most eloquently
grim weapons of war, the weapons of Mars,
the image’s meaning. Mars, of course, is a
of the meaning of David’s picture. Look
But we all know that it is not. Back in the
as if they are fashion accessories. To these
powerful European god.
again at the landscape behind, where the
real world, regular news reports of the child
little lads, the weapons are toys to have fun
He was worshipped in ancient Rome,
little trucks are placed. It is dry and arid.
soldiers of Africa horrify us. We read stories
with, like the tiny trucks in the background
the ultimate empire of merciless, brutal
The little trucks continue to desecrate
of kidnappings, sometimes of dozens
that are placed in an arid landscape.
conquest. With the complicity of Mars,
it. The life that was once there, the trees,
of children at a time. They are drugged
These little toy trucks echo the huge
the Romans brought peace and civilization
the grass, the animals and the people,
and then forced to murder and mutilate.
mechanical earth-mover that appears to
to barbarians: but only on their own
have been scoured away from the surface
If only this were true.
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Sandro Botticelli:
C. 1484, Venus and Mars
© The National Gallery,
London.
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of a once beautiful world in a relentless
is all just a game after all. On the left sits
search for treasure. This search has a cost.
Venus. She is black. She is loaded with
One of the most efficient methods of mining
all of those aspects of black beauty that
gold involves the use of mercury, which
white Europeans have historically found so
filters into watercourses and leaves its toxic
compelling. She is exotic, rare and aloof.
residue to destroy the lives of those who
Her jewellery, her painted nails, lavish
ingest it. Bodies are withered, children are
hairstyle and exposed breast all combine
born deformed and impaired. How ironic
to produce an image of rare fragility. She
that this poisonous metal takes its name
is a black African woman seen through
from another European god: Mercury.
European eyes and has been rendered
He is the god of commerce and profit, one
passive, tame and beautiful. In Botticelli’s
more European son who arrives in Africa in
picture, Venus is in charge but in David’s
a ruthless search for gold. Gold with which
picture the lamb and the rooster that are
to gild the bones of the vanquished.
placed beside her indicate that she is, like
As if to emphasise his physical perfection,
them, only a chattel. She has the same
Mars has a little wound on his cheek. It is
status as a piece of livestock. And a lamb,
nothing too serious and nothing that won’t
remember, is traditionally an animal of
heal. The little boy with the megaphone is
sacrifice.
wearing a footballer’s helmet: maybe this
Mars, although asleep, is still in charge
David La Chapelle: watercolor, graphite, collage on paper - 20x23 cm | 2009
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Detail: Sandro Botticelli, Venus and Mars
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Detail: David LaChapelle, The Rape of Africa
vast amounts of ivory to send back home.
quoted at the start of this essay, beauty and
Cleverly, the charismatic European fools
truth are the same thing – ‘that is all Ye know
the native Africans into worshipping him
on earth, and all ye need to know’ – but he
with their primitive rituals. To the Africans,
got it wrong. Ugliness exists and that is the
the white man becomes a god. Kurtz and
truth too. Just think of those child soldiers.
his fellow colonisers were motivated by
Ugliness is the opposite of beauty. Fantasy
a desire to take African riches to Europe.
is the opposite of truth. Paradoxically
In exchange, from Europe to Africa they
however, it is through his brilliant use of
here. He can snooze away happily. He
dim: we hardly notice it in contrast to the
brought what they saw as enlightenment.
beauty and fantasy that David LaChapelle
doesn’t need his weapons anymore because
painfully bright strip-lights that sear across
With that enlightenment they brought
somehow and irresistibly arrives at the
the little African boys will do his dirty work
the top of the picture. Here, it is the classical
weapons. And today, their descendants still
truth. The ugly truth.
for him. The boy with the megaphone will
European god Mars who rules things, not
bring weapons and, symbolising their own
wake him up but the god will simply look
the black African Venus. And he transports
enlightenment, they bring ‘Classic Sun:
around at his accumulated treasure and
the means of destruction to the hands of
Color safe Bleach.’ Yes, David LaChapelle is
reflect approvingly on how his weapons
innocents.
deeply concerned with beauty but he is not
bring the values of western enlightenment
David LaChapelle’s ‘Rape of Africa’ is a
blind to its flip side, ugliness. Indeed, he
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your gods and you.
to a continent where the light seems
visual equivalent of Joseph Conrad’s short
is as passionate about communicating the
permanently extinguished. The broken
novel of 1899, ‘Heart of Darkness’. There,
existence of ugliness as he is about showing
Colin Wiggins,
light bulb in the top corner is useless and
the appalling character Kurtz plunders
us beauty. For Keats, author of the lines
The National Gallery, London
Kipling; ‘The White Man’s Burden’
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THE RAPE OF AFRICA
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Wim Pijbes, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Onaangenaam comfort
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David La Chapelle: graphite on paper - 23x20 cm | 2009
Afrika is een vrouw, zoals alle continenten
publieke gebouwen. Het mooiste voorbeeld
vrouwen zijn. Afrika is vanzelfsprekend
vinden we in Amsterdam, in het timpaan
een zwarte vrouw en zo wordt ze al sinds
van het voormalige stadhuis, tegenwoordig
eeuwen verbeeld. Afrika is het rijkste
Paleis op de Dam. De Republiek der
continent, Afrika is het armste continent,
Nederlanden was in de zeventiende eeuw
het oercontinent, waar de natuur in volle
immers Europa’s leidende mogendheid en
overvloed zijn gang gaat. Afrika is overdadig,
handelsnatie waar ook de kunsten bloeiden.
overrompelend, bedwelmend en barok: bij
In het wereldbeeld van de Republiek stond
uitstek het continent van David LaChapelle.
de Amsterdamse stedenmaagd centraal.
Lange tijd was Afrika een onbekende in de
Amsterdam beschouwde zich als de stad
Westerse kunst. Hooguit werd ze verbeeld
waarnaar alle werelddelen zich richtten., In de
in de allegorische voorstellingen waar de
wereldvoorstelling, gemaakt door Quellinus
werelddelen
in
de Oude zien we de zeegoden theatraal hulde
fresco’s en beeldengroepen in meestal grote
brengen aan de Amsterdamse Stedemaagd.
verpersoonlijkt
werden
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David La Chapelle: watercolor, graphite, collage on paper - 40x23 cm | 2009
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En op de achtergevel bewijzen de vier wereld-
uitgedoste vrouw, Azie vaak in gezelschap
hoorn des overvloed die terugvoert tot de
werelddeel onderling in stukken verdeelden,
delen de stad Amsterdam hun eer. Zo is op
van een olifant en na de ontdekking van
tijd van Hadrianus toen Carthago een van
werd de basis gelegd voor de roof van Afrika.
dit centrale monument van onze Gouden
Amerika, het vierde werelddeel, een vrouw
graanschuren van Rome was.
Het moge
Haar lot ligt sinds ‘Berlijn’ in Westerse
Eeuw het toenmalige wereldbeeld vereeuwigd.
met veren getooid. Telkens keert een aantal
duidelijk zijn, Afrika stond voor barokke
handen. Gaandeweg werden de natuurlijke
Christendom, handel en zwaard gaan samen.
motieven terug: Europa, of meer specifiek
overdaad. Maar feitelijk was Afrika tot ver
hulpbronnen, aanvankelijk ook de mensen
Stroomgoden op de voorgrond stellen IJ en
een land of stad, wordt gepersonifieerd als
in de negentiende eeuw het onbekende
zelf,
Amstel voor. Azië biedt juwelen en zijde aan,
vrouw, met klassieke trekken, in Romeins
werelddeel. Op enkele handelsposten aan de
continent onttrokken ter meerdere glorie
Afrika ivoor en Arabië doek, in geknielde,
gewaad en met een kroon. Zij domineert de
kust en gebieden aan de Kaap na, was het hele
van het Westen.
vragende houding. Met hun handelswaar
voorstelling. De werelddelen knielen voor
enorme binnenland een ondoordringbaar
werden de continenten en dus ook Afrika,
haar troon, zijn veelal vanaf de rug te zien
geheel wat pas met avonturiers als Stanley
Nu naar David LaChapelle. We zien een
afgebeeld als figuranten in een eurocentrisch
en qua gelaatsuitdrukking niet ‘klassiek’
werd geopend. Zijn beroemde reisverslag
wakkere Afrika, een verleidelijk mooie zwarte
wereldbeeld, gezien en gedomineerd vanuit
afgebeeld, maar achtelozer van stijl. In deze
‘Throught the Dark Continent’ (1878)
vrouw, geheel in de beeldtraditie die hiervoor
Europa. In het toonaangevende werk van
Europese beeldtraditie werd Azië afgebeeld
schonk enig licht in deze lange duisternis. In
in het kort geschetst werd. De titel ‘The Rape
Cesare Ripa, de Iconologia van eind zestiende
als een vrouw in een sierlijk gewaad versierd
de deling van Afrika, het grote landenspel dat
of Africa’ is echter een noviteit in de kunst.
eeuw, kreeg deze beeldtaal verder vorm.
met goud, parels en andere edelstenen en
plaatsvond in Berlijn tussen 15 november
We kennen wel de ‘Rape of Europe’ van
Europa werd voorgesteld als een vrouw met
Afrika werd vaak vergezeld door exotische
1884 en 26 februari 1885, waar de Europese
bijvoorbeeld Rembrandt of Botero en tal van
kroon en scepter, Afrika als een exotisch
dieren als een leeuw, schorpioen en een
machthebbers de kaart van het ongerepte
andere kunstenaars die dit klassieke thema
systematisch
aan
het
vruchtbare
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David La Chapelle: watercolor, graphite, collage on paper - 23x20 cm | 2009
uit Ovidius’ ‘Metamorphosen’ verbeelden.
Deze Afrika zit ongenaakbaar en bevindt
Een ‘Rape of Africa’ bestaat echter niet.
zich in een voorstelling, waarvan ze geen deel
Waar de roof van Europa een mythologisch
lijkt uit te maken. Haar onbewogen afwezig-
verhaal is, betekent de roof van Afrika eerder
heid is niet apathisch, eerder souverein.
een waar gebeurd drama dat opvallend
De kleurrijke overdadige ‘pop baroque’
genoeg nooit tot inspiratie van kunstenaars
van David LaChapelle leent zich bij uitstek
heeft geleid. Daar is met dit werk van
voor deze dramatische vertelling. Allerlei
David LaChapelle nu op drastische wijze een
tegenstellingen op verschillende niveaus
eind aan gemaakt. Gebaseerd op Botticelli’s
eisen tegelijk de aandacht; gekunstelde
‘Venus en Mars’, lijkt de verbeelding van
esthetiek naast natuurlijke schoonheid, rust
LaChapelle een cynisch commentaar op de
en beweging, lawaai en stilte, comfort en
wereldgeschiedenis. Een voldaan slapende
ongemak, oorspronkelijkheid en citaat. In
Mars (Europa?) omringd door rijkdom (met
‘The Rape of Africa’ toont LaChapelle ons op
zelfs een verwijzing naar Damien Hirsts’ ‘For
indringende wijze, gebaseerd op een klassiek
the Love of God’) en brutale, zwaar bewapende
motief, een uiterst actueel onderwerp.
handlangers, slaapt zijn roes uit in het bijzijn
Wim Pijbes
van een afwezig kijkende zwarte Venus.
Directeur Rijksmuseum
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David La Chapelle: watercolor, graphite, collage on paper - 20x23 cm | 2009
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Published on the occasion of exhibition
The Rape of Africa
Galerie Alex Daniels, Amsterdam
6 June - 31 July, 2009.
Colophon
All artworks: David LaChapelle
Essay by Colin Wiggins, The National Gallery, London
Essay by Wim Pijbes, Director Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Sandro Botticelli: Venus and Mars © The National Gallery, London
Sandro Botticelli: La Primavera, The Birth of Venus, © Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY.
Exhibition curated by Alex Daniels and Fred Torres
Curatorial assistance Patrick Toolan
Book and cover design Alex Daniels, Reflex Editions, Amsterdam, 2009, all rights reserved.
Image “The Rape of Africa” courtesy of David LaChapelle,
Galerie Alex Daniels and Fred Torres Collaborations
Edition:3000 Print: Meco Offset, The Netherlands
Printed and Bound in The Netherlands
This is an edition of 3000 of which 250 are numbered and signed by the artist.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without prior written permission from the copyright holders.
ISBN/EAN: 9789071848070
Weteringschans 83 1017 RZ Amsterdam
Openingstijden di t/m za 11.00 - 18.00 uur.
Tel. 020 - 627 28 32 / 020 - 423 54 23
info@reflexamsterdam.com
www.reflexamsterdam.com
36
Published on the occasion of exhibition
The Rape of Africa
Galerie Alex Daniels, Amsterdam
6 June - 31 July, 2009
David Desanctis Gallery, Los Angeles
12 September - 31 October, 2009.
Colophon
All artworks: David LaChapelle
Essay by Colin Wiggins, The National Gallery, London
Essay by Wim Pijbes, Director Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Sandro Botticelli: Venus and Mars © The National Gallery, London
Sandro Botticelli: La Primavera, The Birth of Venus, © Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY.
Exhibition curated by Alex Daniels and Fred Torres
Curatorial assistance Patrick Toolan
Book and cover design Alex Daniels, Reflex Editions, Amsterdam, 2009, all rights reserved.
Image “The Rape of Africa” courtesy of David LaChapelle,
Galerie Alex Daniels and Fred Torres Collaborations
Edition:3000 Print: Meco Offset, The Netherlands
Printed and Bound in The Netherlands
This is an edition of 3000 of which 250 are numbered and signed by the artist.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without prior written permission from the copyright holders.
ISBN/EAN: 9789071848070
David DeSanctis Gallery
36
Weteringschans 83 1017 RZ Amsterdam
314 N. Crescent Heights Blvd.
Openingstijden di t/m za 11.00 - 18.00 uur.
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Tel. 020 - 627 28 32 / 020 - 423 54 23
phone 323.782.9404 / fax 323.782.9407
info@reflexamsterdam.com
www.desanctisgallery.com
www.reflexamsterdam.com
info@desanctisgallery.com