Christophe Beauregard (born January 9, 1966)[1] is a French portrait photographer who started his photographic career in the commercial sector. Initially working as a portraitist for the press and advertising campaigns he then jointly develop and pursue of his personal creative impulse. He is currently recognized in France and abroad as a contemporary photographer focusing on key themes such as identity and individualism in post-modern societies.[2]
Born in France in 1966, Christophe Beauregard lives and works in Paris. After earning a degree in literature, a pivotal moment came following his encounter with Sam Francis in his studio in Palo Alto in 1989 and a transformative year in Scotland, where Beauregard diligently practiced drawing and painting. This experience led him to enroll at the Beaux-Arts the subsequent year. Graduating in 1992, Beauregard chose to turn toward photography, becoming an assistant to numerous celebrity and fashion photographers. From 1996, he began producing celebrity portraits for press and advertising, and starting in 2003, he developed a distinct artistic practice.
The human body, both in a social and intimate context, is his subject of choice. Beauregard, fascinated by the symptoms of our contemporary hedonism and its representations, demonstrates through his photographs how our bodies bear the cost of our obsession with providing meaning to our existence, and how we crave uniqueness while also adhering to norms.
This unique approach to portraiture and its staging has earned Beauregard numerous prestigious collaborations, ranging from Dior to Berluti, including the Centre Pompidou-Metz and the CentQuatreParis in France. He has also been exhibited abroad at venues such as the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt – DE, Alcatel Lucent – US, and the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo de Prato, IT. He is represented by Ségolène Brossette Galerie in France.
Beauregard's photographs have been published in "Manuel d’Esthétique" and "Semantic Tramps" (Filigranes Éditions), "Europe Echelle 27" (Trans Photographic Press), and "Sari" (Christophe Daviet-Théry). His work is regularly published in magazines like Le Monde, L’OEil, Libération, and Les Inrocks, and can be found in several private and public collections.
Notable art series
Polaroids paysages bleu, 2019-2022: Christophe Beauregard, initially constrained to his studio at Le Bateau-Lavoir during lockdown, transitioned from crafting staged, literature-inspired scenes using flowers and objects, to expanding his work outdoors and experimenting with Polaroids across various genres, introducing an element of unalterable immediacy and accidental artistry into his exploration of color, light, and fiction upon easing of restrictions.
Polaroids natures mortes, 2019-2022: Christophe Beauregard utilized a Polaroid SX70 since 2019 to delve into diverse genres and explore color, light, figure, and fiction, initiating a series of literature-inspired, theatrical still life photography, termed "Short Stories," amidst the lockdown in his Bateau-Lavoir studio, which naturally evolved to outdoor settings, narrating potential human stories through crafted scenes and landscapes when restrictions eased.
Vianney D., 2020-2022: Christophe Beauregard explores non-binary identity and duality through his latest series focused on Vianney Desplantes, intertwining portraiture and performance to delve into themes of ambivalence, desire, and wholeness, going beyond mere gender and transgressive voyeurism, and contemplating desire as both a wish to encapsulate a united, boundless self and a yearning for all-encompassing inclusivity.
Polaroids fleurs, 2019-2022: Christophe Beauregard pivoted from creating literature-inspired, theatrical still life "Short Stories" in his Le Bateau-Lavoir studio during the initial lockdown, to organically expanding his work outdoors and profoundly exploring the unalterable and serendipitous nature of Polaroids, navigating through varied visual languages of portraiture, landscape, and still life upon the easing of restrictions.
Fleurs, 2020-2022: During the 2020 Paris lockdown, portraitist Christophe Beauregard initiated "Fleurs, 2020," capturing flowers within his Bateau-Lavoir studio as symbolic, unaltered vignettes of resilience and vigor, representing those persisting amidst deprivation and uncertainty, and exploring freedom through space, perspective, light, and color amidst confinement.
Why not portraits?, 2019-2022: Christophe Beauregard’s work, echoing Matisse's early canvases, intertwines models with printed backgrounds to dissect the relationship between figure and backdrop, investigating alignment or contrast between clothing material and background, while playfully deconstructing body language and exploring a post-modern conundrum of seeking individuality within norms through subjects that subtly embody a narrative of contemporary existential search.
Sari, 2018: Christophe Beauregard's 2015 Corsican series "Sari" intertwines undistorted imagery of children enjoying unrestricted freedom amidst local natural scenery with a blend of idyllic and potentially ominous undertones, capturing genuine, sunlit innocence while subtly alluding to a concealed, looming threat, as observed by critic Dominique Baqué.
It’s getting dark, 2013: Invited for a posing session, anonymous individuals veil their faces with a fabric of their choice; symbols of contemporary blindness, loss, and identity change.
Devils in disguise, 2010: In this series set in the forest, children in disguise are captured in mid-action in a heroic posture reminiscent of popular superheroes.
Semantic Tramps, 2008: Calling upon actors, Christophe Beauregard stages a series questioning the representation of poverty in the media.
Pinder, 1993: Inspired by the work of August Sander, the photographer created his first series during his degree at the Beaux-Arts. It features numerous portraits of circus artists.
Guerrin Michel, "Le marché des images de paparazzi", catalogue Paparazzi! Photographes Stars et Artistes, Éditions Centre Pompidou-Metz / Flammarion, p.68-69, January 2014
Illouz Audrey, "Under Cover", catalogue Under Cover, GRK Gallery, p.2-3, November 2014
Tonda, Philippe. Interview with Christophe Beauregard, "Devils in Disguise", 2010, Paris, France.
Saint-Pierre François, "Inventer la présence", catalogue Inventer le présent, Les Abattoirs-Frac Midi-Pyrénées, p.56-57, Spring 2010
Baqué Dominique, L'effroi du présent - Figurer la violence, Flammarion, p.228-229, September 2009
Farge Arlette, Semantic tramps, Filigranes éditions, p.29-35, September 2008
Ceux qui détiennent – Sam Francis, "In Lovely Blueness (N°1)", dans l'oeil d'Anastasia, [carte postale, 600 exemplaires édités], France, Centre Pompidou-Metz, November 2014
2010
Devils in Disguise – Luckibill, [poster édité en 125 tirages jet d'encre pigmentaire], France, Galerie TPTP Space, 2010
References
Katherine Tuider. Interview with Christophe Beauregard, May 19, 2014, Paris, France.
Philippe Tonda. Interview with Christophe Beauregard, Devils in Disguise, 2010, Paris, France.
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