The Spirit of Tango IV, Buenos Aires

About Christopher Pillitz

CULTURES OF THE WORLD Christopher Pillitz has seen the world. His reportage and finely wrought image series have been produced in over seventy countries and are published in the globe’s largest magazines. With his eight monographs and… Read more

Visit artist page follow artist

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

CULTURES OF THE WORLD

Christopher Pillitz has seen the world. His reportage and finely wrought image series have been produced in over seventy countries and are published in the globe’s largest magazines. With his eight monographs and numerous international exhibitions, Pillitz counts among the last decades’ most renowned photo journalists.

The experienced photographer travels in order to explore the manifestations of the world’s cultures. A strong sense of empathy defines his travel images, as does a deep understanding of the grace of foreign peoples, whom he consciously and harmoniously depicts in their local landscapes. Pillitz hopes to portray Asians’ nearness to the elements, particularly to water; he accomplishes this in his haunting documentary color photographs, which, however, exceed the boundaries of pure representation. Thus the works become an atmospherically dense allegory of a life pervaded by the wisdom of the Far East.

But Pillitz is not only an attentive observer of the world; he is also a master of staged photography. He feels particularly connected to the culture of his homeland. The Argentinean calls his picture story from Buenos Aires The Spirit of Tango.

He sets his stage in a neighborhood of charm and character. The lively actors have well-known names: ballerina Barbara Bertone and dance Oscar Velazquez classically court one another, while a perfectly polished 1948 Alfa Romeo Freccia D’Oro serves as the classy backdrop to the amorous game. The journey into a lost era of romantically danced gestures is captured in stylish black-and-white, full of contrasts. Such a choice emphasizes the structures of the historical building, and the reflections on the classy car and gives them a singularity in the vivacious composition.

Horst Kloever

We are delighted to present these editions in cooperation with GEO.

VITA

1958	born in Buenos Aires, Argentina
1978	arrives in London, UK
1978-1982	Hotel Management Degree at London’s Claridge’s and Ritz Hotels as a trainee as well as Basel’s Banhof kitchens
since 1983	switches career to embrace photography
	attempts to get an assisting job in a  photo studio with no success, thus begins a life of travel and working for a broad range of editorial and commercial clients, including magazines such as: The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, The Observer, GEO, STERN, TIME, The Smithsonian, LIFE, The New York Times, amongst others, as well as commercial (Corporate and Advertising) clients such as Bulmers, Glenlivet, Alessi, Philip Morris, Poaroid, Cafedirect, Syngenta
1990	project entitled “Brazil Incarnate”, a 5 year photographic study of Brazilian sexuality and body culture
since 1990	working for Germany’s GEO magazine, crossing South America (2001-2002), the Philippines, Nicaragua, Bangladesh, Tibet, and many others
2001-2005	helped create the visual identity of the Avina Foundation which is dedicated to supporting and promoting sustainable development and corporate social responsibility across Latin America
2006-2008	working on three large format travel and architectural books in which he journeyed across China and India, completing the trio with an intimate look, both architectural and people based, on the inner workings of the Vatican
	lives in Teddington, UK

Exhibitions

2007	Brazil Incarnate, Festival International de la Photo de Mer, Vannes, France
2005	Brazil Incarnate, Tuscany International Photo Festival, Italy
2000	Brazil Incarnate, Visa pour l'image, Perpignan, France, The AOP Gallery London, UK, Warsaw University, Poland, Grazia Nerri Gallery, Milan, Italy
1998	Brazil Incarnate, Terre d'Images, Biarritz, France, and Barcelona, Spain
1993	Positive Lives, the response to HIV (global touring exhibition)
1992	Creating Reality, National Museum of film and Photography, Bradford
1990	Eastern Europe in Revolt. National Museum of film and Photography, Bradford, UK
	Zelda Cheattle gallery, London, UK