Christian Chaize

Praia Piquinia 15/08/13 10h39

Christian Chaize Biography Christian Chaize is a French artist born in 1960. Aside from Portugal, he works predominately in Lyon, France, where he also lives. An autodidact, Christian Chaize cultivated his talent in this culture rich city, the original home of the Lumière Brothers, who invented moving pictures, and a short drive from where Nicéphore Niépce produced the very first photograph. In 1992, Christian Chaize was awarded the Prix European Panorama de Kodak for Young European Photographer - in Arles. In addition to international recognition for his fine art work, Christian Chaize has enjoyed a successful career as a commercial photographer for three decades. In 2004, Christian Chaize began focusing his artistic attention on a small stretch of coastline in Portugal. Since then, using medium and large format film cameras, his commitment to documenting one specific beach from a consistent vantage point- that is, taking its 'portrait' at various times of the day over a variety of seasons over several years - has culminated in his most renowned series, Praia Piquinia. It is the subject of Christian Chaize's first monograph, published by Chronicle Books in 2013, entitled: TIME & TIDE. This on-going body of work has been the focus of two museum shows in Portugal. It has garnered various one-person gallery exhibitions in New York, Berlin, and Lyon, and has been featured in publications such as The Collector’s Guide to New Art Photography Vol. 2, BLINK MAGAZINE Issue No. 13, The Morning News interview with Rosecrans Baldwin, Huffington Post, and Elle Decor. Additional Christian Chaize photography series include To Praia Grande (also Portugal) and Paradis (images made in the Seychelles), which have been mounted as exhibitions in Europe and the U.S., as well. Recent black and white series, La Lune and TEN, manifest obvious departures from his well-known beach-scapes. However, as with the color work, they reflect inspiration Christian Chaize takes from the painter, Giorgio Morandi, regarding an obsessive concentration on a single subject matter, and his guiding artistic mantra: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” ― Marcel Proust