Praia Piquinia 11/08/10 12h15 by Christian Chaize

Praia Piquinia 11/08/10 12h15 is also available in an 80"x60" ($10,000) size.

PLEASE NOTE: These prints will not ship immediately. Working with an international artist often extends our production timeline, and because they're c-prints, the production process is different too. We will keep collectors apprised of the delivery date via email.

Disconcertingly brisk Monday greetings, collectors. Our hunger for spring after a long, cold and incredibly snowy winter makes this morning's sub-freezing temps that much harder to take. David Steward walked into the office this morning and said "I'm so glad we are releasing another gorgeous beach photo today! It's the perfect antidote to today's weather." It's a sentiment with which I wholeheartedly agree, so it's a real pleasure to introduce our sixth edition by Christian Chaize, the brightly-hued and decidedly summery Praia Piquinia 11/08/10 12h15.

When introducing Praia Piquinia 28/08/10 12h20, I posited that, all gorgeousness aside, it's love that's at the heart of Christian's entire Praia Piquinia series. I've had ample time and opportunity to live with and consider this work, and also see how collectors of varying levels of experience and appetite have responded to it. I've come to the conclusion that the series's natural beauty has led many, myself among them, to underestimate both its essence and impact.

It's clear that this beach is easy on the eyes. But Christian's choice to persistently return to it, again and again, throughout the years, is more than what it seems at first glance. Seeking something new and engaging in what is intimately familiar deepens your relationship with it.* For most people, it's hard not to become bored when looking at the same thing again and again, even if it's beautiful. There's a certain kind of bravery in doing just that. So while there's something tender in his enduring interest and discovery, I also see a sort of courage, and love. I have been thinking a lot about this idea: that the key to love and being loved is courage. Courage is to be brave of heart.

It's the ability to remain devoted, to not become bored, that separates love from infatuation. There's so much distraction to be found in the new, the different and the exciting, all energy going outward toward understanding what's unfamiliar—it is what drives infatuation. The opposite of this is the hard thing, the thing that requires courage—the wish and the will to seek something thrilling in the familiar, and to find it.

* And also, I'd wager, with yourself—looking at the same thing over and over turns it into something of a mirror.