David LaChapelle’s Amanda: My Own Marilyn synthesises an image of Amanda Lepore in Warholian fashion, only that the message behind the Marilyns of both artists reads almost the opposite. In the burgeoning age of 1960s American consumption, Warhol’s screenprint portfolios showed how the “pop” image of an icon forms through subtraction. Technically, reprinting and reproducing an image shaves away one detail of the original image at a time to eventually resemble only an abridged likeness to what was. The image becomes universal instead of particular; it becomes “popular” by virtue of this erasure of particularity. Choosing Amanda Lepore to serve as LaChapelle’s Monroe here is fascinating — we’re given an icon whose image is formed through addition instead. We see more of this Marilyn: the texture of her skin, the gloss of her makeup, the fibrous texture of her hair. Everything is just a bit more and a bit bigger. LaChapelle’s photography is conducive to this as well, preserving the dimensions of Lepore’s face such that this dimensionality alone becomes additive, not neutral, when juxtaposed against Warhol’s Marilyn.

Size: 19.69"W 27.56"H (50x70 cm)

Printed on 170g FSC-certified paper