Artist statement:
I work intuitively and am attracted by the beauty of the ordinary. I seek to discover the connection and vulnerability and look for coherence without wondering why or how.
Arno Massee is a photographer with a preference for the traditional photography profession. Arno started his career in 1992 when the printing of photographs took place in the darkrooms. His love for this way of working – in which you depend on time, light, old-fashioned chemicals and especially expertise – during printing and analog editing, has always remained. His free work is particularly recognizable by the use of cyanotype printing capturing images in a so-called ‘blueprint’. The base of the work is often a cyanotypeprint which will be bleached, toned and reprinted.
Cyanotype
The base of the work is often a cyanotypeprint which will be bleached, toned and reprinted. His work cannot only be defined as photographic. The work is a combination of analog printing techniques, combined with acrylic paint, charcoal and Indian ink.
Commercial work
Arno has been working as a successful photographer for over 25 years, mainly for the business to business market and works both for editorial and commercial publications and projects. One of Arno’s specialties is producing and creating medical- and scientific imagery for the healthcare industry and health related markets and publishers.
His compositions are characterized by simplicity, tranquility and space and artistic depths. A signature that also finds its way in his free work.
During his career as a commercial photographer Arno cannot let go of the traditional way of photographing and printing. It is precisely this unique and special process that appeals to Arno and has his passion. Working with real negatives and printing the images themselves in his darkroom or working through the old-fashioned blueprint, make his photographic art unique and striking. The final images can not be copied or digitized 1 to 1 and are totally dependent on expertise, lighting and manual editing. Each version is unique.