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Since the 1980's, photographer David LaChapelle has been making an undeniable impact on the creative world — one seen across fashion, arts, and culture. 

His bold and unapologetic style has held its own in a competetive industry and garnered a dedicated, well-deserved fanbase for its unique aesthetic: each piece drips with deep-set religious references, highly saturated color schemes and hypersexual visuals.

Without forgoing tongue-in-cheek attitude, LaChapelle has proven over the years he has an inherent and unmatched ability to turn a celebrity portrait into a challenging, erotic, exciting, political and sociological statement as much as a beautiful work of art.

Though his work is anything but a stranger to the gallery setting, aptly during NYFW, Fotografiska New York opens the most extensive retrospective of DLC's career to date. Touching on the wide range of themes and techniques the artist has approached throughout the 40 years he's been in practice, highlighting in particlar the religious under- (and over-) tones his work has become both fervently beloved and criticized for, the exhibition titled Make Believe will present to the public over 150 works created by LaChapelle between 1984 and 2022.

From his prolific 90's portfolio featuring everyone from Tupac and David Bowie to Britney Spears, to more current portraits of Kim Kardashian, Travis Scott and the like — the historic, and ironically church-like Fotografiska building in Midtown has dedicated its entire space to the exhibition. 

Check out a preview below, and be sure to head over to the show yourself, opening September 9th. 

Los Angeles based artist Angela Nguyen makes the floor pop, scream, laugh, smile, and brood. Completely self taught, for the past five years she has honed in on the nuances of a process called tufting to create phenomenal rugs that contain an abundance of stylistic flares unique to her work.

These giant creatures that she calls “rugs” ooze with energy, pairing together chaotic imagery with a minimalist color palate fit for both a living room or gallery floor — she is adamant that her works be shown on the floor rather than hung on the wall.

Maybe it was because we sat on her newest rug for the interview, but as we talked I became instantly immersed in the crazy and monopolistic world of tufting, a world to which she hesitantly belongs.

How did you intitially get involved in tufting?

I started in late 2018 with a friend of mine and have been self-taught through trial and error. The renaissance of tufting in general is very DIY and completely self-taught, and something I find really interesting about it is that there’s a “new age” of it and an “old age” of it. This practice has existed for ages, but there was kind of a halt to it because there was a lot of criticism from people who worked in rug manufacturing. And I’ve spoken to a lot of rug manufacturers who have criticized the practice because 1. the threads get loose, 2. it’s cheaply made — it’s the cheapest way to make a rug — and 3. it takes super long for these rugs to be finished, much longer than finishing a woven rug. With the new age of tufting I think there’s sort of this disconnect between the practices and the criticisms. Part of what’s really important to me regarding tufting is just understanding ways I can improve so I can challenge those critiques.

When you first got into the practice were you met with that backlash?

I was actually very unaware of it until I took my first rug to get outsource finished with a rug manufacturer, and he was like “what the fuck is this.” I brought him my rug which is very untraditional to what old age tufting is. Old age tufting is really just like square, rectangle, and circle rugs. Something easy to get done. So I was met with that criticism, something that they’re not used to. It’s apparent when you’re talking to people who are aware of the old age tufting styles or traditions of rug manufacturing. A majority of the people in the new age saturated market of tufting aren’t aware of those criticisms. . New age tufting trends reflect quick cash grabs. You can buy very cheap material from JOANN, you can build a frame in one day, and you can have someone commission a piece of whatever their logo is and get paid 300-400 bucks for it. That’s not the way I’d like to approach what I do, but that’s kind of the reality of it.

Do you think it’s a form of elitism? 

Part of me isn’t really sure if it’s elitist as much as it’s just about traditionalism. I think it takes people challenging that notion by making crazier pieces, sourcing better material, and doing things that are very untraditional when it comes to tufting.

Have you found there to exist some sort of a community within the niche of tufting?

I think it’s a little bit hard to navigate because it’s such a saturated market. So it’s really hard to find people who are working on the trade as an artistic practice. There’s someone named Tori Wheeler who’s a good friend of mine, we started tufting around the same time, and that’s somebody I adore and love their work. Jabari as well, he’s a textile artist but he learned how to tuft with me over the summer. He actually helped tuft parts of the rug that we’re sitting on. There’s also this guy named John who does this thing called Juicy Rugs, and he makes very lovely rugs of iconic faces and stuff. So those are some people that I like who tuft, but other than that I find it kind of difficult because the tufting community is very monopolized. There is this one guy who bought the rights to a tufting gun from China to sell domestically and had marked up the price dramatically, and that's what sucks. The community is kind of based in this guy’s world. He runs the tufting forum, he charged me 250 dollars for the tufting manual, and he also has his own line of wool that everyone buys from. I refuse to buy any of it.

God, that’s crazy. So you’ve only been doing this for 5 years, which is absurd, did you work in any other mediums before this? 

I guess I was in a creative field before this, I worked in the music industry in A and R.

I know right. They fired me! But my dad taught me a lot about home goods and stuff. He’s not so much of an interior designer as he is a manufacturer of goods. Now my aunts and uncles say they see the correlation between me and my father. But yeah I just kind of picked this up, I’ve always wanted to jump into more creative work than being in A and R, but it ended up working out the way that it did and I’m stoked.

Do you consult your Dad about your rugs at all? 

He loves to feed me advice. My dad is an immigrant from Vietnam so there’s a cultural disconnect in the way that we view art, but he gives me suggestions and I’m like “thanks dad, but no.” But a huge role that my dad has played in me and my art is the way that I grew up. He loves popular culture, but he also loves talking about politics. Literally every single day of my childhood my dad would constantly talk about anything political, even when I was like 12. 

But his tendencies have definitely rubbed off on you, I mean look at the images we’re sitting on right now.

Yeah it has, now I’m just making fun of whatever he talks about.

Would you consider all of your pieces to be political?

Yeah I’d say so. All of my rugs are inherently political. I worked on this basketball rug and I even found that was a bit political too. People immediately resort to iconography of players and people of fame who are icons of the sports world, but less of the working class people and the fans that really create what that iconography exists because of. So I felt that piece was inherently political because I wanted to represent the other side of sports fandom in its community rather than its icons.

What you’re describing plays into the notion that perhaps everything, not just art, is inherently political, is that something you’d agree with?

There I am, my suppressed child-self. My eyes are closed. I can depict the imagery of youth.  As I imagine, I can feel grass scratching the skin of my exposed ankles and the mosquito bites decorating my calves. I can see a bright sun and its last sheds of extended daylight saving. There are clouds, and there are laughs, and I have an aftertaste of fruit rollups on my tongue. There's a wrenched Caprisun withering on the ground. Then, I open my eyes. I am an adult. I have matured in many ways yet my brain clutters with the fogginess of nostalgia. Hues of yellow and blue fill my consciousness, and I am filled with warmth from the inner child that sits within me.

Do you know what that feels like? Does this happen to you? Eve, an artist from Vancouver and Rhode Island, knows of this experience. As a painter, she cherishes it—harvests it. Eve uses it as the centerfold of her work. The heavy streams of nostalgia and childhood are river flows into Eve's canvasses. 

When we get older, we all experience this 'pick me' phase of betraying our younger selves for the licensed maturity and respect of adulthood. We forsake our senses, sensations, and wildest imaginations for a seat at some stupid grown-up table. By the time we've reconciled with our inner child, the memory of those times leaves us joyfully melancholic. It's difficult to actualize that feeling, and Eve does so gracefully. With ease, her drawings, sculptings, and oil paintings fractionalize the motifs of home, comfort, joy, and imagination. Through the usage of furniture, open windows, and childlike beings, Eve builds on those ideals and meanings. Anyone who views her work takes something home to think about. Eve's creations are the goody bags that we needed. 

In an office interview, Eve discusses the Studio Ghibli influence, a how-to tutorial for drawing on Procreate, and the relationship she has built with her inner child. 

What forms of media influence your art?

I watched a lot of Teletoon Retro growing up, and while it never seemed to influence my work until recently, I've carried a deep appreciation for its fluidity. The movement and designs of each characters are an inspiration that I use to convey more fluidity in my own work. I also loved watching anime in middle school—still do—and I am inspired by the vibrancy of the landscapes that can be found in slice of life and shonen anime like, 'One Piece.' I think in terms of direct reference, I'm inspired by maximalist aesthetics that can be found in a lot of Ghibli films like "The Secret World of Arrietty," "Spirited Away," and "Howl's Moving Castle." I actually have that image of Howl in his bedroom as my laptop screen. Other beautiful shows and films that I derive inspiration from include "Tatami Galaxy," "Houseki no Kuni," and "The Handmaiden."

How would you describe your art in three words?

When did your love of art begin?

A very common answer, but I think I've always been interested in drawing. For as long as I can remember, I've always enjoyed it. Growing up, I kept to myself frequently which meant most of my time was spent drawing and participating in arts and crafts. While I always enjoyed art, I think I started taking art more seriously around when I was 15 years old. That's when I decided I wanted to pursue it as a career rather than a hobby. 

What is it about light pastel colors that you enjoy?

I think my gravitation towards light colors stems from a desire to chase a feeling of nostalgia. I often view memory as submerged in light, and wish to convey that fogginess and light through my work. Similar to a filter. I do want to experiment with darker palettes though, so I expect my work to undergo many transformations in terms of overall contrast and color.

Who are the artists you're inspired by?

I've been a big fan of James Jean for a long time. I adore the fluidity of his line work along with his inclusive color palettes. Recently, I've been interested in objects and glasslike materials in intricate compositions and have been looking to old manuscripts, art nouveau, graphic designers, 3D artists, and ukiyo-e paintings as inspiration. There are a variety of artists that inspire me but immediately I think of Edmund Dulac, Shahzia Sikander, and Kenshi Ozaki.

Eve's work is a product of intention. As shown in her virgin black and white samples, the usage of her pencils creates lines and shapes with so much divisive detail. The process of turning her work into the colorful pieces representative in her portfolio takes precision, attention, and imagination. Eve's perception and thought process is saturated with creativity and her technical skills are the artistic cherry on the top. She takes her time on her work. This artist builds on the chosen colors, and no piece of hers goes unfinished without evoking the need for emotion. 

In many of your pieces, the motifs of furtniture are often utilized. What is the purpose behind these depictions?

I used to work exclusively with the human figure as the main subject, but after speaking with fellow artists working with objects as symbolic references, I began taking interest in objects as primary subject matter. I am very interested in furtniture that gives off feelings of home and comfort, as well as objects that feel fragile and intricate, hence my interest in glass and lattice structures.

You've done sculpting, oil painting and drawing— what's your favorite art form?

I really enjoy all of these mediums very much. I hope to continue working with them in the near future. I am currently most interested in drawing, as I am able to achieve a lot of intricacies even within a small surface area. Most of my drawings don't exceed 9x12", but because of this, I can explore many compositions and concepts in smaller amounts of time. Especially, without losing detail. This fast-paced tone has been incredibly helpful in my style exploration.

What is the process of turning your black and white sketches into it's full colorful works of art? How do you choose which colors to use?

I use mechanical pencils on sketchbook paper to create the base drawing, and then scan or photograph my sketches. From there, I import my images into Procreate and use the direct selection tool to lasso out areas of the drawing and use the gradient maps tool to color. Procreate has a few default options but I usually make my own or tinker with pre-existing ones. I usually have a very vague idea about the general atmosphere of the drawing and use a gradient map to tinge the entirety of the drawing to that color. Then, I pick out certain objects that I have an idea of a color for. I never really know what a drawing will look like until I'm finished with the color picking so, it is a process of trial and error. From there, I paint on top of the drawing, or play with layer blending modes and other settings like bloom, gaussian blur, or noise until I'm satisfied with the results.

There are so many child characters throughout your work. How does childhood and child fun enhance your work? Would you ever use motifs of adulthood?

Indeed! I think when I depict childlike figures, I really am harkening back to a younger version of myself, and in doing so, I feel like I am able to work out some of the knots and tribulations of my child self. I consider my work to be very highly encoded, and I strive for many pieces to instill calmness, or a sense of peaceful melancholy. I've been playing with the concept of authority figures and higher powers in my work, and enjoy the idea of a figure that is much wiser than my current and child self. I'm unsure of what an adulthood motif would entail, but I would like to expand my visual vocabulary to possibly more mature themes. Ultimately, I hope to preserve a sense of dreamscape and childlike whimsy in my work— at least for the time being.

Over his twenty-five-plus year career, Derrick Adams has examined and celebrated the complexities of black life and culture in America. Much of his work centers around an investigation of the humanity of black bodies explored through their universal experiences of leisure, celebration, and play. In doing this, Adams aims to present a holistic rendering of black life.

Adams' sculpture, Fun Time Unicorns, is firmly built atop his belief that Relaxation and play can be revolutionary acts, especially when performed by those traditionally excluded from acts of leisure. Further, Black joy, love, and play should be normalized in American popular culture. This interactive sculpture was created to promote social engagement and play, invoking the idea of Blackness as magical, colorful, mystical, free-spirited, and deserving of protection.

Reminiscent of Jeff Koons's "Celebration' series, Fun Time Unicorns is inspired by Children's toys and blow-up balloon animals. The iconic Unicorn, represented in the interactive sculpture, is a continuation of the artist's celebrated Floater series, more specifically the piece Floater 80 (Self-Portrait). The floater series features Black people relaxing and enjoying leisurely moments atop inflatable pool floats in residential swimming pools. The black unicorn figure was birthed from this series, then manifested into a life-size pool float, and eventually into its current iteration as Funtime Unicorns.

The unveiling of this sculpture at Rockefeller Center coincides with the launching of the artist's Edition business and an accompanying website where consumers can purchase editions of the artist's work directly from his studio. As the sole owner of this business, Adams is taking control of his product. The Funtime Unicorn's edition will be similar to the sculpture in Channel Gardens and will be released as an edition of 30, with 10 AP. With this endeavor, Adams is exploring avenues outside of the gallery models to engage collectors and fans of his practice and continue to expand his footprint in an ever-transforming art market.

Emann Odufu - Nowadays, a lot of artists are talking about showcasing black people in leisure as a form of protest. This is a concept I came to through engaging with your work. The first time I saw your work in person was the Floater Series, which showed at Project For Empty Space in Newark, NJ, in 2016.

Then I met you a couple of months afterward in Philly, touring the public art installation "In Search of the Truth" when you were doing a mural for Philly Mural Arts. This past year, I've been writing and interviewing various artists, some of whom have taken great inspiration from your work, specifically this idea of celebrating black leisure and play as a revolutionary act. So, I'm curious about how this concept of leisure and play became a focal point in your practice and what were some of the things that inspired you to pursue this concept.

Derrick Adams - Probably starting in 2010, ideas around this subject matter and theme came into a more refined voice. It came from a desire to see a certain level of normalcy depicted in black life in art. I was interested in how I could play a role in establishing that visual narrative through my creative output. I was looking around at the overall landscape of what was being made by black artists and the conversations surrounding the work of my peers and what they were interested in. I was thinking about my position as an artist and what I could offer through my perspective of looking at black culture in a way that was not as easily accessible at first glance. When you think about leisure or the idea of normalcy or relaxation, that doesn't always trigger such a visceral response as images of protest or politics.

Images not showing black people pushing against something or depicting "the struggle" automatically refers to the idea that it may not be political. Because what I decided to create was not a dominant visual voice at the time, I felt compelled to go in that direction because I felt that it should be more of a prominent conversation within contemporary art. Especially looking at the younger generation and how to position them to be prepared to deal with society on their terms. I was thinking about what the black people I know do daily and what that would look like in art. As a black community, we have always been involved in protests or some level of socio-political unrest and challenges. I think it's important for creative people to look at those struggles and present that to the world. Still, I also believe there is a place to broaden and even complicate Blackness's narrative by introducing other ways of looking at us.

As Americans, we can't help but be part of this idea of the American dream. You work, then you enjoy the benefits of it. That could mean a vacation or some level of reset. Those things as a Black person are amplified even more as a political position. So my constant motivation in my studio is how to present these things that are not very difficult to conjure up and that I find through looking around me and tapping into my community. I tap into it through understanding the people around me and all they have contributed and received from black culture. I'm constantly thinking about putting that into the world and giving the future generation the option to look at art from that perspective.

EO - I read somewhere that the Floater series was partly inspired by photographs of MLK and Coretta Scott King on vacation in Jamaica. Why were these photos so significant to you?

DA - I just started thinking about political figures like MLK, Malcolm X, Coretta Scott King, and Betty Shabazz. I started thinking about them as individuals, mothers, fathers, or brothers and sisters. I started thinking about the things they did between the struggles and the protests. Through research, I began uncovering images of Malcolm with swim trunks and then of MLK and his wife on vacation in Jamaica.

These are not images presented at the top of any Google search of these public figures. So that automatically motivated me to dig deeper. To know that these individuals, who are considered the pioneers of civil rights and who made major sacrifices for us, also had moments of reset and Relaxation while still being incredibly important figures. This cemented everything I think about when I think about the importance of representing people at leisure. It is a significant way of looking at the multidimensionality of black people.

EO - You mentioned that a lot of your work is inspired by your experiences and the people you've met. I read that your first gig was being a teacher at an elementary school, even before you went to Pratt. Do you think that experience of working with children translated into the formation of your practice?

DA - Yeah, of course; I think being an educator - because I also teach at Brooklyn College now - makes you aware of the systematic structure of learning. You understand things from a very fundamental position. You start being aware of what's in the textbooks, the illustrations, and how current the publication is. You're presenting these things to young minds at a very particular time when these are their introductions into American culture. These things also sparked a lot of my interests and direction in art making because I realized that you could redirect and reroute various conversations that spawn from visual language and visual iconography as an artist. Especially if you think about how you want people to view themselves or the community around them. So, teaching gave me a sense of how people see, or the way people understand, based on access or lack of access to images or cultures that will help advance their understanding on a broader level.

As a visual artist, there are things that I want to see as a black person in the world when I go to exhibitions at a museum or a gallery. There are images of Black people in certain settings that appeal more to me. When you think about figurative works containing the black figure, it is more about imagination. It's about really imagining a place where you are in charge and where you are the primary subject, and where you can create any illusion of reality that you want, and this is where you can do it. Maybe this reality you're conjuring up could be happening somewhere, and it could be influential in some ways through your imagination. Putting it in the world might make things exist in a way you envision just by putting it out there. Visual art overall is such a tool of higher learning. The way it operates, you don't even know you're learning. It puts seeds in your head in your brain that grow into other ways of looking at yourself and looking at people you encounter and people who may or may not understand the reference points that you may be putting in the world as an artist. 

EO - Can you elaborate on this symbol of the Unicorn in your work, specifically its connection to the Floater series?

DA - A lot of my work has evolved out of ideas that spawn from other ideas. That's how I work. I don't want to overthink the outcome. The Unicorn figure came from a continuous process within the Floaters series when I was first working off images of actual floats. I would buy them from the store and use them in drawings. So, it was more about accuracy and capturing the absurdity of the objects you could buy. I didn't want to make a float because it was more about using the commercialism of what is attached to the actual images in context with the figures. As I started working through it more, I realized that with the direction the work was going, the idea of fantasy became more of a possibility. This is because I was drawing these cartoonish objects. One day I was making a white Unicorn float, and I just said this Unicorn is not even real, so why does it have to be white. It's a mythological or even made-up image. No one has ever seen one, so why is it white? Why can't it be something else? So, the black Unicorn came out of the idea of just seeing something one way and having the ability as an artist to change the narrative simply by changing the color tone. That slight change brought in this idea of politicizing the Unicorn itself just by changing the color of the Unicorn from white to black.

Eventually, I realized that the Unicorn could operate in many different iterations. First, it was a small sculpture, and now it's a spring ride. I think it's almost become a branding thing for me, as a way of reflecting who I am or what I believe in. The Black Unicorn became a symbol of Blackness as a very magical and mystical thing with many mysteries intertwined with what you perceive it to be. The Black Unicorn is very freeing for me to use repeatedly in many ways because I feel like it's more of a declaration for me as a maker, and so I'm always thinking about ways to incorporate it in different forms.

EO - As you know, I went out to the unveiling of Funtime Unicorn at Rockefeller Center and was able to experience the spring rider firsthand. I was very impressed with it. However, this is also the launch of your editions business. To me, I see a connection to Jeff Koons in his Celebration series, specifically the usage of blow-up balloon animals as a source image. I'm curious whether this is something that you were thinking about as you were conceptualizing this edition of Fun time Unicorns.

DA - You cannot overlook the contributions of Jeff Koons, specifically the way he has manipulated objects to appear light which are heavy, and his examination of the American fixation with consumerism and identity politics as it relates to a consumer object. He examines who that object is made for and how it operates within society and in a public space. His public works always have a level of fun and excitement, which I am personally interested in as an artist. However, when I'm making something and putting it into the world, I do expect to have some level of response or engagement with the audience because I'm putting something in a public space.

EO - I'm curious about what factors in the art world, or even personally, led you to decide to start your Editions business at this moment.

DA - I saw it as a perfect time because there are so many ideas that I've had on my list of projects that I want to accomplish. The editions business being one. I like the idea of transforming my ideas into paintings and into things I make that are wearable. Things that I can transform from work on walls to something that people can engage with physically, like a toy or playground equipment. I like to think about accessibility as an approach to engaging with my work. So, whenever I have an opportunity to make an edition, more than one person can have it. More than one person can engage with it. I feel like that's a part of my practice and equally beneficial to me as a maker.

EO - So, I know from prior conversations that community is at the center of your practice, which, to me, is fantastic. I've heard you have a couple of nonprofit organizations you started in Baltimore. Can you tell me a bit more about those organizations?

DA - I believe in community and making art more accessible in many ways. About three or four years ago, I became interested in establishing some nonprofit organizations in Baltimore that relate to ideas surrounding my work. Leisure is one of them, and archiving is one of my interests when making a body of work. So I established the Charm City Cultural Cultivation, a nonprofit organization with three sub-organizations.

One is the Last Resort Residency is a reset, leisure, and social engagement space with a residency component and studios. It is a space for black creators and visual art, literary, culinary, and other forms of creative output to be invited here for a month to experience a space for creativity, community, and social engagement. We hope to launch it next year at some point. We're still establishing the structure for it.

The Black Box, my digital database, is another organization focused on helping the citizens of Baltimore archive their data that family photos, or objects that can be transformed into digital files that will be stored in the database. This is something that we won't own. We will just be the gatekeepers of the data. It's also a space for artists who have done work within the black community around digitizing archive material can have open discussions and workshops with communities that help them understand the importance of archiving, how to access it, and how to share it. The programs will focus on bringing people to the space and creating a community surrounding the database that will have ownership in some way of its direction.

Zora's Den is another organization I started in Baltimore, a Black women writer's circle. They publish anthologies every two years. They just published the second issue, Ironside. Zora's Den is also a workshop format where women come together and edit their writings. Then, they have readings, and they publish their writing.

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