"First I need Your Hand, Then Forever Can Begin "
by David LaChapelle
ABOUT THE PRINT
Benefit Print Project is pleased to announce an outstanding new edition by David LaChapelle. The edition, titled “First I Need Your Hand, Then Forever Can Begin”, was released by the American Friends of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (AFTAM), and coordinated by Benefit Print Project, on the occasion of LaChapelle being awarded as the 2012 AFTAM Artist of the Year. This project was also made possible by Fred Torres Collaborations, New York, the artist’s primary representative.
ABOUT DAVID LACHAPELLE
David LaChapelle is known internationally for his exceptional talent in combining a unique hyper-realistic aesthetic with profound social messages. LaChapelle’s photography career began in the 1980s, when he began showing his artwork in New York City galleries. His work caught the eye of Andy Warhol, who offered him his first job as a photographer at Interview Magazine. His photographs of celebrities in Interview garnered positive attention, and, before long, he was shooting for a variety of top editorial publications and creating some of the most memorable advertising campaigns of his generation.
LaChapelle’s striking images have graced the covers and pages of Italian Vogue, French Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ, Rolling Stone, and i-D, and he has photographed personalities as diverse as Angelina Jolie, Alexander McQueen, Philip Johnson, Lance Armstrong, Pamela Anderson, Uma Thurman, Elizabeth Taylor, David Beckham, Elton John, Jeff Koons, Leonardo DiCaprio, Hillary Clinton, Muhammad Ali, and Britney Spears, to name a few. LaChapelle has had record breaking solo museum exhibitions at the Barbican Museum, London (2002); Palazzo Reale, Milan (2007); Museo del Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City (2009); the Musee de La Monnaie, Paris (2009); the Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei, Taiwan (2010); and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel (2010). In 2011, he had a major exhibition of new work at The Lever House, New York, and retrospectives at the Museo Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (through March 2012), the Hangaram Design Museum in Seoul (through February 2012), and Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague (through February 2012).
ABOUT THE AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE TEL AVIV MUSEUM OF ART
The American Friends of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (AFTAM) is a non-profit organization founded in 1974 to raise funds for the Museum and to seek notable works of art for its collections. AFTAM hosts a year-round calendar of events, including gallery visits, art lectures, private tours of art collections, and an annual Gala. The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is Israel’s leading museum of modern art and home to the largest collections of Israeli art in the world. Situated on a vast cultural complex, the Museum serves as a meeting place for all the arts - painting, sculpture, photography, video art, architecture, music, cinema, and dance.