Over fifteen years ago, LaChapelle dissociated with the cult of the celebrity he and his work had long been attached to and made his way to Hawaii –– a fresh start. Staircase to Paradise, made recently in Hawaii in 2018, suffuses this freshness with a visual language rooted in naturalism rather than in pop sensationalism. In this image, a staircase representing a path to heaven and lounged on by nude male bodies spirals around a nude woman. She is postured as an orant –– a female figure in the posture of prayer with outstretched, supplicating arms and upward-facing palms common in ancient Greek art. Her halo suggests she may be the Virgin Mary. The air is thick in this image –– fleshy pinks and browns, earthy yellows, blues and greens, a ripe consummation between naturalism and humanism. It feels sticky and humid, bare and vulnerable with a tinge of something imminent and divine.

Size: 11.8"W 15.7"H (30x40 cm)

Printed on 170g FSC-certified paper