8 December 4-10, 2025 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Month XX–Month XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | I t’s 1986. David LaChapelle is 22 years old, and his then-editor, Andy Warhol, sends him to Miami on assignment for Inter- view magazine. He’s in an $11-a-night hotel on a South Beach that is quiet in a way that will be unthinkable within a decade, looking out across an empty beach at the winter waves crashing in as they have for millennia upon millennia. And yet, something in the air is shifting. “You could just feel it,” LaChapelle tells New Times. “You could just feel that something was go- ing to happen.” Indeed, it was — both for Miami and LaCha- pelle. The former became — well, you know — the bustling, trendsetting metropolis which houses this very publication. And the latter would soon es- tablish himself as one of the most celebrated fash- ion and celebrity photographers ever, period, shooting David Bowie, Elton John, Eartha Kitt, Gloria Estefan, Sade, Muhammad Ali, and Hillary Clinton among many others for essentially every major magazine that mattered culturally. Now, LaChapelle returns to Miami with the de- but of “Vanishing Act,” an exhibition at VISU Con- temporary that features more than 30 career-spanning works, including the world pre- miere of nine new pieces. These beguiling, vibrant, heightened visions of our world are philosophical and provocative — of a piece with the fine art he’s been leaning into for years now — and grounded in the active, consis- tently-nurtured faith which is of critical impor- tance to LaChapelle both as an artist and a human being navigating our increasingly strange existence. What does this mean on a practical level? Well, he prays daily. He practices gratitude hourly. And he makes time to stay connected to the transcen- dent through immersion in nature and solitude. “Those three things combined keep me in this world, but not of it, you know? That’s what I think keeps me sane and free from fear of the many things we could be afraid of right now,” he says. That spiritual underpinning is reflected in “Vanishing Act.” “In a way, it’s a reply to the culture,” LaChapelle says of his work in the VISU show. “As artists, we can choose what we create, so why would I want to create work that adds to the darkness and confu- sion of our world right now? Just turn on the news — it’s already right there. Why create more of that? I see it, and I want to go the opposite direction. Whatever’s going on in my life – whatever strug- gles, breakups, heartbreak — I want to put out beautiful works that are inspiring and of the light. I am not here to dwell in my darkness or anyone else’s. I want to focus on the goodness, love, and beauty that still remain in this world. Why not nur- ture that?” And if you think LaChapelle doesn’t recognize the dichotomy in his own work, think again. “A lot of young people probably go to my shows because of the work I’ve done in popular culture, which is not that deep, you know? And then, once they’re there, they’ll see the pictures that aren’t on Vanishing Act © Thomas Canet Career-spanning exhibition reveals a deeper side to David LaChapelle. by Shawn Macomber >> p10
Miami 12-04-25
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