Press Coverage

I was struck by her high-key style. You can immediately see that Magescas has chosen to only leave in her photographs what is necessary. Creating scenes that challenge us to see beaches in a new light. Whether you are looking at surfers waiting for the next wave that we cannot see or chairs lined up and hinting of ocean just beyond our sight, her photographs compel you to lean in and look a little deeper at what she has chosen to share with the viewer.

Magescas’ dexterity for sophistication can be experienced within a single frame, both visually and conceptually. Her vision is endowed with a placeless, timeless sensibility: Magescas creates images of the familiar that speak to the universal, allowing viewers to collectively find quiet sanctuary in her dreamlike seascapes.

Often appearing just as shadow figures or suggestions of themselves, her subjects and their boards merge into the landscape becoming an integral part of its make-up; Magescas describes them as “slivers of elegant darkness, dissolving in the sleekness of the water”. It’s clear from her photography that Magescas sees beauty in the ordinary and is drawn to formations that capture a sense of abstraction. 

Beauty is a mystery.
In her « La Plage Blanche » series, Carine Magescas lifts the veil for us. It actually is a long journey, that we can only touch on here, to achieve this pleasure for the eye, this evidence.

The feeling she hopes to instill in those who view or acquire her photographs, she tells Airows, is “to daydream, and feel immersed in a place that seems familiar yet is different, where time and space are irrelevant. I like when art can impose itself in a subtle manner, with several layers, and continues to live with you. I find this particularly important for a piece you choose to own at home and will look at many, many times.”

In her work, Carine Magescas suggests more than she imposes on: shadows, silhouettes; the contour of a woman appearing in a flag twisted by the wind. The rest is left to imagination, thanks to wide stretches of negative space in the images. “I work a lot with overexposure” says Magescas, “I like very serene, minimal compositions. It gives you space to dream.” she explains.

“Like Saul Leiter, whom I greatly admire, I think there is beauty in the ordinary” says Magescas. “I am particularly drawn to composition that captures a sense of abstraction, with multiple layers. When a second look at a photograph reveals more than what you first thought you saw.”

It’s clear from her photography that Magescas sees beauty in the ordinary and is drawn to formations that capture a sense of abstraction. To create her vision and to add gravitas to the purpose and feel of the works, she has stripped the images right down to create high contrasts and an over-exposed ambience, which reiterates the feeling of openness and minimalism that comes from the compositions. 

Three of Magescas’ works, including the Surge #1, on the walls of a stunning vacation home in Le Cap Ferret, France.

‘Interior Designer Maureen McDermott turns a Sag Harbor Wallflower into a stunning beauty. The living room “centerpiece” is a print by French Photographer Carine Magescas.’