Ola Kolehmainen

Opening: Thursday, April 28, 2011, 7 – 9 pm
Bergstr. 22, 10115 Berlin

Opening: Friday, April 29, 2011, 4 – 9 pm
Lindenstr. 35, 10969 Berlin (Galerienhaus 2nd floor)


Gallery TAIK is delighted to present the finnish artist Ola Kolehmainen with a solo exhibition and an installation in two different venues in Berlin. The central exhibition is in the Galerienhaus Lindenstr. 35 (2nd floor) and the installation can be seen at Gallery TAIK Bergstr. 22 (Berlin Mitte). The receptions will be held in presence of the artist.

In his works Ola Kolehmainen constantly questions the way of what we see. Contemporary architecture works as his source material, but not as the ultimate end of his study. He challenges it intellectually, abstracting the pieces that make it whole, leaving his mark on an unmovable object. Kolehmainen's work is not over-intelectualizing as much as it is personalizing a specific moment. He uses his works as if each is a letter in his own alphabet. Combined, they form words in a language that is all his own. Standing in front of one of his photographs, you quickly realize there is one true spot from which to view it. Kolehmainen's magic lies in his ability to capture the unmovable. Concrete shifts, steel seems to bend, windows disappear – and if that is not enough, the sheer size of the work subdues the viewer into his world.

In his latest series he concentrates on the work of the internationally well-known architectural duo Matthias Sauerbruch and Louisa Hutton. Ola Kolehmainen is interpreting Sauerbruch – Hutton´s work through their own influences, in particular through the discipline of the architects Alvar Aalto and Le Corbusier.

Ola Kolehmainen was born in Helsinki (Finland) in 1964. He graduated from the University of Arts and Design in Helsinki with a Master of Arts in 1999. His works have been presented in multiple solo and group exhibitions throughout Europe and the world. Kolehmainen´s solo show "A Building Is Not a Building" has been on tour through several museums in Scandinavia and the United Kingdom. The exhibition was created in correlation with the artist's third monograph, published by Hatje Cantz in 2009. Ola Kolehmainen's works are part of various collections, including Kiasma (Helsinki, FI), Malmö Art Museum (Malmö, SE) and Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg (Wolfsburg, DE).