DAVID LACHAPELLE at MOCCA courtyard (952 Queen West), to August 31. Rating: NNNN
David LaChapelle’s two-storey-high pic The Rape Of Africa offers eye candy without shame. Its gaudy brashness (bare-breasted supermodel, anyone?) contrasts sharply with the modest, intellectualized works that dominate the contemporary art scene.
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As much as I love subversive, dry wit approaches, it’s refreshing to see art that aims to stop viewers in their tracks rather than force them to pull out a magnifying glass.
What pushes this image from snazzy to superb are art-historical references – Botticelli, Ingres, Warhol, Hirst and more – that combine to evoke an anti-consumerist feeling. If this is what the former fashion shooter has planned for his new, art-focused career, more power to him.