Garish, colorful, lush, devoted to detail, sculptural, often provocative, sometimes offensive: this is how the imposing work of the American photographer David LaChapelle can be described, in which he captures stars such as Madonna, Pamela Anderson, Michael Jackson, Björk and David Bowie in photographic portraits, fashion photography and music videos. The former commissioned photographer has long since become an artist who confidently says: “For me there is no difference between photographer and artist. I didn’t set those boundaries. If someone thinks it’s art, fantastic; history will decide that.” His exuberant, trashy compositions quickly reveal his knowledge of art history and pictorial traditions. In the new photo series, the proximity to Christian iconography and the genre of the still life is realized in LaChapelle’s familiar visual language. On closer inspection, the vanitas and biblical motifs in Earth Laughs in Flowers refer directly to contemporary pop culture. David LaChapelle draws on traditional symbols of the Western world and crosses them with the fashions and accessories of our time. In LaChapelle’s photographs, the busyness of our hedonistic affluent society freezes into a disturbing genre painting.