The Beauty of Violence is Karl Lagerfeld’s portrait of Baptiste Giabiconi acting out an erotic seizure of myriad facial and corporeal expressions. Giabiconi is a theatrical chameleon: he hides coyly behind a lock of black hair, adopts a Classical contrapposto pose, bunches his limbs vulnerably, and attempts to stuff his fist into his mouth. He alternatively confronts the camera’s presence with a provocative sultry stare, or withdraws from it into a state of wilful self-absorption. By teasing out the facets of Giabiconi’s athletic youth, Lagerfeld removes the threat of violence and suggests its seductive, indeterminate beauty.
The Beauty of Violence is both the exploration of an intense persona and the latest chapter in Lagerfeld’s ongoing photographic exploration of architectural forms made material by light – whether his subject be man-made structures, landscape, or the human form.