Time Tranny signed by David LaChapelle and Amanda Lepore
The 3rd art swatch in the Centre Georges Pompidou series is called Time Tranny (GZ163). It was designed by the US fashion photographer David LaChapelle.
Biography:
David LaChapelle was born 1963 in North Caroline. In the 80's he become
known with his work for Andy Warhol's Magazin "Interview". In 1995 he got
the award for Best New Photographer of the Year by both French Photo
Magazine and American Photo Magazine, he also was named 1996 Photographer
of the Year at the VH-1 Fashion Awards, and more recently received the
International Center of Photography's Applied Photography Award. Widely
published in fashion, music and entertainment magazines, he also shoots
print and television for clients such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Giorgio
Armani, MTV, Pepsi and Levis. David LaChapelle's unfettered images
have redefined the way editors look at their magazines and turned fashion
on its head. Mixing glamour with comic fantasy, LaChapelle's work
never fails to surprise and delight. Taken from
Torsten Rube's excellent website.
For me, it is one of the best swatches from the last years because it represents David's art quite well (see some examples below). There has be quite some excitement around this swatch because a first version was withdrawn in October 1999. For pictures and a story about the first version, please see Torsten's website.
The swatch features a picture of the model Amanda Lepore on the face. If you think about it, swatch has rarely put the face of a person on the face of a watch! I guess that there are only ten swatches in total featuring persons on the face. The best examples are To Che (GJ115, Che Guevara), Sweet Babies (GL107), and Bisex (GK407). So, the design of the Time Tranny watch is really special.
Up to now, there never has been an official watch signing with David LaChapelle. On May 25, an exhibition of David's photos was opened in a Los Angeles art gallery:
Our swatch collecting friend Roy Porello took the chance, brought a few Time Tranny's, and went to the opening reception. It was really crowded but Roy was successful in the end. Here are some impressions:
Click on the pictures to enlarge.
Amanda Lepore at work
Amanda Lepore and Roy Porello
On the right: David LaChapelle
Photos by David LaChapelle
Here are some more impressions from the exhibition (a few days later):
A million thanks to Roy Porello for the photos and for making this page possible. Really cool.
Update (01-MAY-2018):
Fast forward 18 years later: Swatch Club Pioneer member Sascha met the David LaChapelle during a book signing in Cologne and he got an signature on his Time Tranny Swatch (GZ163):
