“For me, Deluge is about the craziness of being faced with danger, with imminent death, when every material thing is taken away. You have to find some sort of enlightenment when everything you value suddenly becomes worthless. Michelangelo’s Deluge in the Sistine Chapel shows humanity at its best, people helping each other.”
(David LaChapelle, interview by Mary Barone, Artnet Magazine)

Inspired by his experience of living through three months of rain in Maui, David LaChapelle’s Deluge series ended his hiatus from photography and, as the first work that he had produced for a gallery in over twenty years, marks a pivotal moment in his career. Mirroring the sense of renewal and rebirth that came at this time in his life, this particular work from the series is a contemporary take on the biblical story of the flood, illustrating the consequences of modern society’s desires and decadence. Throughout his career, LaChapelle has explored such themes of excess – the glamour, the sex, the endless quest for perfection that embodies pop culture. Here, he depicts a society grasping for survival amidst the detritus of consumerism: a modern day allegory executed through the high-octane, elaborate sets and glorious too-muchness for which he is renowned.