CHRISTIAN CHAIZE
“Returning time and again to this singular, secluded beachfront, Chaize seeks out its nuances and captures the subtle changes of the landscape from moment to moment, day to day. From a distance, he observes the variables: light, weather, time of day, the ebb and flow of the ocean, and the sunbathers. Seen at different days and hours, the simple charm of the vista evolves into something richer: all the details unique to each moment are evidence of the transience of time and tide.” Jen Bekman, from the Introduction
TIME & TIDE PHOTOGRAPHS OF PRAIA PIQUINIA BY CHRISTIAN CHAIZE Introduction by Jen Bekman
TIME & TIDE
$35.00 U.S./£21.99 U.K.
For my wife, Constanze, who led the way to Praia Piquinia.
Copyright © 2013 by Christian Chaize. Introduction copyright © 2013 by Jen Bekman. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available. ISBN : 978-1-4521-1408-8 Manufactured in China. Graphic design: Super Regular - www.super-regular.fr 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Chronicle Books LLC 680 Second Street San Francisco, CA 94107 www.chroniclebooks.com
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Jen Bekman For nearly a decade now Christian Chaize
Returning time and again to this singular, secluded beachfront, Chaize
and his family have spent their summer holidays
seeks out its nuances and captures the subtle changes of the landscape
at what Christian has named Praia Piquinia,
from moment to moment, day to day. Each is taken from what was
a small stretch of coastline in southern Portugal.
essentially the same elevated angle. From a distance, he observes the
And while Christian has certainly accumulated
variables: light, weather, time of day, the ebb and flow of the ocean, and
the requisite shoeboxes (or digital folders)
the sunbathers, unaware, below his large-format camera. The images
full of snapshots that one normally associates
are shot vertically, a departure from the traditional horizontal format
with family holidays, he’s also undertaken
in landscape photography. Carefully, one might even say lovingly, he’s
a photographic creation of another sort,
created a portrait of this seaside place, which unfolds in the pages ahead.
documenting the place itself with his antique 8×10 camera.
I’ve lived and worked with these images for the past several years, exhibiting large-scale photographs from the series at my gallery in New York City and art fairs across the country. We’ve installed larger ones still — their proportions too outsized to fit into our modest storefront space — in some of the city’s most glamorous abodes, and seen them published in the pages of shelter magazines. I’m also proud to say that quite literally hundreds of thousands of people have had the opportunity to become familiar with this body of work via our online venture, 20×200.com, with thousands of those viewers being proud collectors themselves, hanging prints from this series in their homes at dimensions that range from a modest slice of paradise all the way up to those aforementioned outsized proportions. With the publication of this book the series enters into a whole new and rather fitting dimension, its form being a perfect mimic for the passage of
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time, allowing its readers to experience the breadth of Christian’s work xx
It was that understanding of the work that helped me personally move past
what’s unfamiliar: it is what drives infatuation. The opposite of this is the
number of images — on an unprecedented scale. Edits for exhibitions and
the easy appeal of Christian’s photos, ultimately coming to understand
harder thing, the thing that requires courage: the wish and the will to seek
private collections, where the size of the images limits their volume, are
Praia Piquinia as being about love — of place, of memory, of being alive.
something thrilling in the familiar, and to find it.
In writing about his work, Christian often leads his artist statement with
The changes — subtle or obvious, natural or manmade — revealed by
Spending much time considering and living with this work, I’ve also been
a quote from Proust: The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
the passage of time, are central to the work. Seen at different days and
able to see how collectors of varying levels of experience and appetite have
new landscapes but in having new eyes. To remain on this voyage with
hours, the simple charm of the vista evolves into something richer: all the
responded to it. I’ve come to the conclusion that the series’ natural beauty,
everything that is familiar is what differentiates love from infatuation.
details unique to each moment are evidence of the transience of time and
and the nearly universal appeal of its setting, has led many, myself among
It’s a bold statement, but it’s one made with confidence.
tide, creating a framework for human narrative, real or imagined. As each
necessarily considerably smaller.
them, to underestimate both its essence and impact.
element is examined and identified, the daydream becomes clearer and It’s clear that this beach is easy on the eyes. But Christian’s choice to
the feeling of being there is that much closer.
When I first wrote about Christian’s work, I described how I came to
persistently return to it, again and again, throughout the years, is more
understand the Praia Piquinia series as being very different than the work
than what it seems at first glance. Seeking something new and engaging
He’s translated his own intimate knowledge of this particular stretch of
that it’s most frequently compared to — that of Massimo Vitali, frequently,
in what is intimately familiar deepens your relationship with it. For most
seaside in Portugal so fluently that I feel as if it could be part of my own
and sometimes Richard Misrach. With sea, shore, and sunbathers in
people, it’s hard not to become bored when looking at the same thing
personal history, even though I’ve never been there. After having this art
common, it’s easy to see the similarities between all three photographers,
again and again, even if it’s beautiful. There’s a certain kind of bravery in
on my wall for nearly a year now, it has, in a different way, become a part
but if you consider the people, places, and perspective, a major difference
doing just that. So while there’s something tender in his enduring interest
of my life and my story. Praia Piquinia conjures that oft-referred-to sense
emerges. In the works of Vitali and Misrach their admittedly dazzling
and discovery, I also see a sort of courage — and love. I have been thinking
of nostalgia for something I’ve never really known. And although I can’t
scale has the effect of anonymizing both the viewed and viewer alike,
a lot about this idea: that the key to love and being loved is courage.
put my finger on it, it’s actually something I do know — I know this place,
whereas what’s on display in Christian’s work is the individual, his own
Courage, in its most literal translation, is to be brave of heart.
or this sense of place, and to know how it feels to be in such a place allows
not quite perfect perspective, and a small enough slice of seashore that
me to imagine myself in Christian’s shoes. And to have such imaginings
you’re able to hone in on its individual denizens if you so choose, and
It’s the ability to remain devoted, to not become bored, that separates love
populate it. Vitali’s and Misrach’s creations are spectacles of humanity,
from infatuation. There’s so much distraction to be found in the new, the
whereas Christian’s are essentially about being human.
different, and the exciting, all energy going outward toward understanding
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is the expression of that most human of traits, empathy.
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Christian Chaize For the past thirty years, I have been taking orders for photographs that
One day, placing my camera before Piquinia, I suddenly saw beyond its
are made in my studio. Since 2004, Praia Piquinia has been ordering
obvious beauty, to its fluctuating atmosphere, its treasure of narratives.
me to make them there. Someday, I will give the orders ! But for the moment, this is my story of surrender. I arrived at Piquinia in the year 2000, because life would have it that while I am French and live in Lyon, I would meet a woman in the West Indies who lived in London, whose mother is German and lives in Konstanz, but who purchased a house forty years ago in Portugal.
It had so much to reveal. I had only to be present. The woman, with whom I’d come so far, closed her eyes with much needed sleep; and I, mere steps away, opened mine anew. Excited, but humbled, I steadied my tripod as fast as I could. Just to see . . . And so, here we are. And where is this ?
The woman, her name is Constanze. The house, it gazes upon a beach.
Even if I place my finger on the map, you will not find Piquinia.
We went there together, again and again . . . and again ! And love would
Because it is right there, just in front of you !
have it that we would go yet again, in August of 2000, with our one-year-
No ? Then I am certain, along the way, you will find your own.
old son in tow.
Standing on my bluff, this beach,
During family naps, I would slip out with a large format camera on
I see water, as it breathes,
my back, restless with the impulse to test myself against the landscape.
I see men listening to sand, I see women listening to men, though very little. And the kids ? They make pictures, again and again . . .
CC
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Pra ia Piq uinia _ 20/ 08/ 05_ 14h53
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