LAVAZZA CALENDAR 2020 BY DAVID LACHAPELLE
“I believe in a visual language that should be as strong as the written word”.
These are the words of David LaChapelle, American artist and photographer of the Lavazza 2020 Calendar.
Born in Connecticut in 1963, David LaChapelle has become one of the most published photographers in the world, with an anthology of books including LaChapelle Land (1996), Hotel LaChapelle (1999), Heaven to Hell (2006), Lost and Found (2017) and Good News (2017). Simultaneously, his work has expanded into music videos, films and stage projects. His 2005 feature film Rize was released in theatres in 17 countries. Many of his still and film works have become iconic archetypes of American culture in the 21st Century.
Over the past 30 years, La Chapelle has held worldwide exhibitions in galleries and museums including the National Portrait Gallery in London and Musée D’Orsay in Paris, as well as major solo exhibits in La Venaria Reale in Turin in 2019, to name but a few.
In 1991, the New York Times said, “LaChapelle is certain to influence the work of a new generation […] in the same way that Mr. Avedon pioneered so much of what is familiar today”.
LAVAZZA & DAVID LACHAPELLE
Lavazza and LaChapelle collaborated for the very first time in 2002 when Lavazza commissioned the artist with the creation of Espresso & Fun, the calendar for that year.
In 2012, the photographer was one of the protagonists of The Lavazzers, the calendar that celebrated 12 Masters of Photography.
The paths of David LaChapelle and Lavazza crossed once again in 2020, when Lavazza entrusted David with the 2020 calendar, created in Hawaii.
Among the photographs in the calendar Realize stands out, presented during the Atti Divini exhibition, it represents both an invitation and a warning about the beauty of and risk that our planet runs.
“LaChapelle has been able to interpret values we strongly believe in and it has been a privilege to work with him. We tried to talk about the importance of reconnecting with nature”.
Francesca Lavazza
EARTH CELEBRACTION: DISCOVER THE 2020 CALENDAR
Earth CelebrAction, this is the title of the Lavazza 2020 calendar which aimed to celebrate the relationship that binds man with nature while advocating a series of actions to safeguard it.
The Calendar is the best tool to create awareness and prompt people to action, by involving and inspiring them through the beauty of art.
The words that mark these extraordinary images by David LaChapelle are meant to communicate the urgency to take responsibility towards the people around us and the world we live in.
It is no coincidence that the word chosen for December, the last month of the calendar, is not only an aspiration but an invitation to take concrete action: "change”.
