David Lachapelle's The Last Supper

The image i have chosen to analyse is a piece from the series 'Jesus is my homeboy' by David LaChapelle entitled 'The Last Supper', a modernised version of DaVinci's piece by the same title (1498). This piece of writing will explore comparing and contrasting and will identify the characteristics of the image and what helps create its structure. This series of photographs explores the idea of Jesus being placed into a modern day setting, which in this case is an urban neighbourhood, where he is surrounded by stereotypical 'homeboy' characters. These characters are created by the clever choice of styling, model casting and prop sourcing. LaChapelle has used a lot of stereotypical iconography during this photographic …show more content…
Here the character of Jesus is surround by a halo of glowing light, however the other characters are not in focus as much and seem to be lit by the glow of Jesus, which therefore creates a barrier between the two subjects in hand, furthermore adding to the 'hierarchy around Jesus. Fans of Lachapelle will understand that his style of shooting is very surreal, this is shown by his dream state visuals and talent for pairing both fantasy and reality. In an interview with life magazine (1988) he comments on the aesthetic of his work claiming 'Some say photographs don't lie, mine do'. His work in comparison to that of other photographers such as Irving Penn or Mario Testino is garish and obscene. His strong use of colour and pop culture references are which makes him widely known and separates him from other photographers who concentrate on beauty more than concept .He is also known for battling topics such as religion, politics and the idea of fame in his work. Judging by the visuals of this image, I think that many would agree that this is much like his other work as it conveys his identifiable aesthetic which he is famously known