David LaChappelle Loves Riding in Cars

Three new works capture Mercedes-Maybach cars as homage to art movements

David LaChapelle’s photography suggests alternate worlds infused with color, imagination, and character. His portraits of icons — including Angelina Jolie, Amanda Lepore and Tupac Shakur — imbue his subjects with personality and seductive pluck. Several decades in, he continues to crisscross genres melding celebrity and fantasy. In September, a solo exhibition, “All of a Sudden” will open at the William Benton Museum of Art in Storrs, Connecticut, not far from where he was born. This year he has photographed album covers for Megan thee Stallion, Ice Spice, Travis Scott, and Lana Del Ray. LaChappelle has a long history making commercial photographs that overlap with his many interests, one of which is cars. Most recently, Maybach, the German super luxe car brand operated by Mercedes-Benz commissioned LaChappelle to make three portraits of the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class, the GLS, and the EQS SUV. LaChappelle responded to the prompt with photographic references to futurist, surrealist, and cubist movements. He collaborated with costume designer Colleen Atwood on building his signature sets using dancers as models to capture the essence of each movement alluding to cars in kinetic motion. He debuted these works “Future Scape,” “Cubist Scape” and “Surreal Scape” at Salone del Mobile alongside the respective vehicles. One portrait from this series was on view in late August at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance to compliment the brand’s launch of its opulent sportscar the Mercedes-Maybach SL. We spoke with LaChappelle about the collaboration and his fascination with car design.

"Cubist Scape" by David LaChappelle, Mercedes-Benz Art Collection.

Let’s talk about your history with the Maybach brand. How did you become introduced to this brand?

I got to do these pictures about, gosh, 15 years ago. They really let me do what I wanted to do. They're a very interesting company. They wanted me to know everything about the car and how they made it, so they brought me out to Stuttgart. Then last year they invited me to come out and see the factory and talk to people at this giant campus. I got to talk to all the workers working on the interiors, sewing everything by hand. One of the factory workers, I admired his uniform, and then he brought me a uniform in my size. It’s so rad and I wear it. They talked to me about doing these photographs that would be artistic in nature and that would feature the car. I thought of three art movements cubism, surrealism, and futurism, which was really my own obsession with the pyramids, flying saucers, and aliens. They gave me absolute freedom and let me do what I wanted to do and include the car in the photographs. It was kind of a dream, because a lot of clients do all kind of group testing of things and ideas and like focus groups. (Maybach) embraced it and supported the whole process, and it just made the pictures like that much more striking.

"Future Scape" by David LaChapelle, Mercedes-Benz Art Collection.

How did you translate that concept to your aesthetic?

I wanted human beings involved in the photographs, so I got acrobats, gymnasts, and performers to model for me. I've always preferred working with dancers over models, because they really know how to move. They're so comfortable with their bodies. The first models I ever photographed in high school were my friends who were in the dance program going to this art high school. I've always loved working with those types of performers. That tableau you’re looking at in these images is not digital. That is what existed on the set. I think in analog terms, and I like it all to be in-camera. It's much more fun and exciting to work that way. It’s better for the talent and afterwards people clap. Rather than working with greenscreen or compositing things together, you're working with a theatrical moment.

The futurist loved cars, motion, and speed. You captured that essence with the human body in that particular work, “Future Scape.”

"Surreal Scape" by David LaChappelle, Mercedes-Benz Art Collection.

“The biggest pleasure is sitting in the car. I’m not a great driver.”

— David LaChapelle

We are taught in school to think pyramids are ancient and are these giant tombstones. Now we're realizing that we have no clue about the technologies made to build these pyramids. There's so much mystery involved. I related the precision of making Maybach cars to the precision of making these pyramids and equating the two. I presented that to the company and they're like, yes, we'll go for it. These performers brought a scale to that (concept.)

How do you feel about cars in general?

I love cars. I have a bunch of cars myself. I have an ‘81 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud that's custom painted by Ernie Vales. Ernie's assistant Marcus Suarez painted most of that car. Then I have an ’83 Mercedes stretch. It's not a stretch limousine. It's a stretch sedan. It's the boxy era of Mercedes. It’s like a tank. It came from Europe and the (steering) wheel was on the other side. It has pullout tables in the back. It's really an amazing car. It's got curtains on the windows on the back. It's in my garage. The third car is my dad's car, an ‘81 Lincoln Town Car, silver. It’s the car Madea drives, and it’s in cherry condition. The Rolls is a disaster. It's been a money pit. Like, it just breaks down all the time. Unfortunately, right now it's not running, and I don't know if it ever will run again. I had some friend of a friend who turned out to be on drugs doing the car, and he just ripped out every piece of wire and I don't know how to fix it. It's going to be an absurd amount of money. I got the car from Adrien Brody, the actor. Everyone was driving SUVs at the time. It was like 20 years ago, right before he landed the role in “The Piano.” We traded a photograph for the car and a few thousand dollars. He (said) he was quitting acting and by the time we talked about selling his car, he was selling his stuff and was moving back to New York. All of my cars have sound systems in them. I love the sound system. I wish I could fix a car. Maybe one day I’ll have a Maybach. The biggest pleasure is sitting in the car. I'm not a great driver. I got my license in my forties. I really like being a passenger.

Maybach is a perfect passenger car, too.

There’s nothing like being a passenger in a Maybach. I’m not just saying that because I’m working with Maybach. Being a passenger in a Maybach car is like riding on a cloud. It's insane. It’s like floating on cloud and everything's fun. It’s like you’re in a bubble. Kind of amazing.

What’s your next thing you’re working on?

We’re making a series right now. I just did this image of the Tower of Babel and I’m working on washing them in the dark room. I just did a bunch of hip hop album covers. I work with a lot of musicians, which I love. I have an exhibition coming up in Connecticut. I was born in Connecticut so that’s exciting in that sense. When I do all the album covers like Travis Scott or Doja Cat it brings a lot of young people to the galleries and museums. I used to see it as really separate and now I see it as a whole. Also, it keeps a studio working and buzzing and kind of like keeps the energy going. We still have like a foot in the world, instead of just doing fun art, which can get kind of quiet. It just brings another energy to the studio that really is helpful and then keeps things fresh. So much of what I do is collaboration and I really want to keep those wheels well-oiled and those connections tight.

This article appears on Whitewall.