UPDATE (17/10): the expo has been rescheduled to run from October 28 until February 25 2018.

There could hardly be a better image to sum up the parts of American star photographer and director David LaChapelle than the one of larger-than-life club diva Amanda Lepore evoking Liz Taylor. In a new expo opening at BAM (Beaux-Arts Mons) on October 14, her cult glory is all yours to admire. Over 100 David LaChapelle artworks will be on display, from fine art photographs to pop and rock music videos he directed and large format blow-ups.

When you think of David LaChappelle, you envision surrealism drenched in eroticism, satire and eye-watering colour (ten-year-old me still has pink flares burned into his retina from watching Mariah in that jumpsuit for the “Loverboy” video). You think of Lavazza ads, Naomi Playboy spreads and Kardashian Khristmas Kards. We know (and love or hate) his oil-coated nudes and bombastic celebrity depictions; but this expo will show a lesser seen side of LaChapelle that I’m keen to explore. BAM is where KNOTORYUS curated a fashion pop-up exhibit within the museum’s 2013 expo dedicated to Andy Warhol – who invited LaChapelle to shoot for Interview magazine when the latter was about 20 years old – so it’s exciting to head back to the former European Capital of Culture.

Curated by seasoned pro Gianni Mercurio (curator of the 2013 BAM Warhol expo, author of “The Jean-Michel Basquiat Show” with Glenn O’Brien and Italy’s foremost connoisseur of American modern art), “After The Deluge” has been divided into two sections and separate floors. The years up until 2007 are represented on one side, containing some of the pieces that made his name which focus on the human, hedonistic side of his art. The New LaChapelle (with works since ‘07, created up until this year) will take over the second part. A dramatic, biblical split in time which only seems fitting.

The reason behind that division is a personal one. When David LaChapelle took a private viewing tour of the Sistine Chapel in 2006, lore has it the photographer-provocateur felt a need to change. To literally walk away and hole up on a Pacific Ocean island. “After The Deluge” is what came out of that voyage, a seven-metre behemoth inspired by Michelangelo’s “The Deluge”, which spawned a new series of works. Images of weather-torn galleries, overgrown gas stations and tumbling planes show a world of self-induced post-apocalyptic eerie glam that only a LaChapelle could convey. The message may have gotten more conceptual, but the gloss and drama will never be watered down.

David LaChapelle: After The Deluge

October 28 2017 – February 25 2018
Tuesdays – Sundays (10 AM – 6 PM)

BAM (Beaux-Arts Mons)
Rue Neuve 8
7000 Mons
Belgium

More info via www.bam.mons.be and Facebook.

Top image: “My Own Liz” (2002)