CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 8/16/2018

Michael Jackson, Michelangelo and David LaChapelle, 'On the Wall'

In Michael Jackson: On the Wall, the catalogue to the National Portrait Gallery's international blockbuster, Jackson is quoted, speaking of Michelangelo: "I always think that he was the most phenomenal artist and I love art. I think that if I could have met someone from the past it would be him. I think I understand what he was trying to say and do, even though he got criticized. He was a true artist. I would have loved to have a chat with him." Featured here is David LaChapelle's "American Jesus: Hold me, carry me boldly" (2009), one panel in a triptych of large-scale photographs using religious iconography to depict Jackson as a modern-day martyr, produced in response to the artist's death that year.