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2006

Ola Kolehmainen

Photography

180 x 232 cm

The work of Ola Kolehmainen is displayed in large format photographs the recurrent subjects of which are space, color and volume. He uses architectural photography as a starting point of his research which transforms the thing seen into abstract motifs. The clinical coldness of the subject, the precise and meticulous framing, as well as the absence of people, are inspired by the German Documentary School, called “The Düsseldorf School”. For Ola Kolehmainen, architecture is only a pretext for catching light and its reflections. The buildings don’t exist for themselves but as the raw material of his art.

Ola Kolehmainen

Finland

Born in 1964

Born in Helsinki, Finland.
Lives and works in Berlin.

Ola Kolehmainen studied journalism at Helsinki University and also obtained a Masters in Photography from the Helsinki University of Art and Design. He photographs the facades of buildings - both old and modern - removing any sense of purpose to turn them into a simple picture by focusing on specific architectural details or shooting from unusual angles.

Architecture is the starting point of OlaKolehmainen’s work. The artist’s wide-angle photographs show buildings whoseglass facades reflect the architecture opposite. Kolehmainen’s work plays withmirrors, tricks of the light and series of windows to both break up and createvolume. His subjects are space, colour and volume and, to photograph theseabstract subjects, he uses architecture, transforming the three-dimensionalqualities of a building into a flat surface. The original forms of the subjectsoften consist of a mirror series of basic shapes or materials.