An orgy of excess

If any photographer is epic and big-budget enough to have his own trilogy, it's David LaChapelle. Heaven to Hell completes the trio begun by LaChapelle Land and Hotel LaChapelle with a final helping of pop-culture inanity - or is it insanity? LaChapelle's images ooze glamour and excess but he's actually a bit of a moralist. He repeatedly uses surreal concepts to lampoon celebrity aggrandisement, materialism and grotesquely conspicuous consumption. Laudable indeed, but ironically he's mocking a culture that he very much inhabits and perpetuates. This is a man who has the rich and famous flocking to pose for him to prove they have a sense of humour. And his all-time idol is - of course - Elton John.
Holly Kyte