Ola Kolehmainen A Building Is Not a Building

Ola Kolehmainen


Ola Kolehmainen’s photographs are extraordinarily minimal and almost exclusively depict sections of building façades. They are organized according to strict principles of order, showing rows of repetitive basic patterns or symmetrical constructs. The Minimalist austerity of these images is occasionally broken by elements that circumvent this formalism: trees or houses mirrored in the façades. Kolehmainen’s works are produced using the Diasec process, which means that the environment is reflected in the surface of the photos as well as in the images themselves—a calculated component of his work.

This volume presents many new, previously unpublished photographs, including two monumental five- and eight-part works by the artist. Ola Kohlemainen (*1964 inHelsinki) is a noted member of the Helsinki School, and he primarily regards his works not as photographs of specific objects, but as objets d’art.

 

Exhibition schedule: Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, February 26–April 26,2009 l

The National Museum of Photography, Copenhagen, May 29–August 29, 2009 l New Art Gallery Walsall, November 13, 2009–January 24, 2010 l Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, Vaasa, March 4–May 16, 2010







OLA KOLEHMAINEN’s (*1964, Helsinki) works are visual journeys to space, time, and light. A graduate of the Helsinki University of Art and Design, and one of the most successful representatives of the first generation of the Helsinki School, Kolehmainen became famous for his method of reducing façades to minimalist details.