Didier Massard is a magician of invention within the genre of fabricated
photographs. He was born and raised in Paris where he received his Baccalaureate
degree in art and archaeology from the University of Paris in 1975. For
twenty-five years he executed commercial work as a still photographer for
clients in the world of fashion and cosmetics including Chanel, Hermes,
and many others. After the completion his series Imaginary Journeys,
executed over almost ten years, his career was launched and he now works
exclusively on his personal projects. His series are conceived from his
imagination while drawing from our collective romantic and touristic notions
of nationality and place. His exotic locales created in his studio have
evoked Ireland, China, India, Holland the cliffs of Normandy. Massard works
for long periods on each of these tableaux, and ruminates that "each image
is the completion of an inner imaginary journey." Roberta Smith wrote in
The New York Times "color and space combine with fastidious detail
to create a sense of illusion and artifice that is more usual to painting,
Magic Realist painting in particular...one's willingness to suspend disbelief
is a measure of Massard's skill."
Territories 2003-2008 [view
images]
Artificial Paradise 1999-2003 [view images]
Imaginary Journeys 1993-1999 [view images]