Until Sunday, February 26, Galerie Rudolfinum hosts Thus Spoke LaChapelle, a major retrospective of David LaChapelle's work.

Taking in almost 30 years of photography, including early works from the mid-1980s, the show offers the most comprehensive overview of the controversial American photographer's uniquely distinctive work ever exhibited.

A hugely successful magazine photographer for two decades, LaChapelle quit the industry in 2006 with the intention of giving up photography altogether.

Since then, however, he has returned to his roots as an art photographer, while, he says, "using everything I learned from magazines -- not throwing that away."

At a press conference in Prague prior to the exhibition's opening, a surprisingly humble LaChapelle insisted that he "never set out to shock or upset" with his work, which combines sex, social issues, religion and surrealism and draws inspiration from sources including pop culture, Renaissance art, and Roman sculpture.

According to LaChapelle: "I want to make work that is pop -- Michelangelo was a pop artist."

Sam Beckwith
sam@prague.tv

ENTRY PRICE
Full Price: 130 CZK
Reduced Price: 80 CZK

OPENING HOURS
Monday: Closed
Tuesday: 10am-6pm
Wednesday: 10am-6pm
Thursday: 10am-8pm
Friday: 10am-6pm
Saturday: 10am-6pm
Sunday: 10am-6pm

RELATED WEBSITE: http://www.galerierudolfinum.cz/en/exhibition/thuss-spoke-david-lachapelle