Pertti Kekarainen
03 - 27 Apr 2008
PERTTI KEKARAINEN
3.4. - 27.4.2008
"Works from the TILA - SPACE series"
Pertti Kekarainen (born 1965) is one of the most successful names of Finnish photography on the international scene. His works have been on show in solo and joint exhibitions in European museums and galleries, and they have been purchased for the collections of leading international business institutions and for important private collections in Europe, North America and South America. Kekarainen has also made extensive commissioned works for clients in Finland and Sweden.
The present exhibition features works from the TILA – SPACE series that have not been seen previously in Finland along with completely new works. The series deals in a poetic manner with space, its properties and ambiguity. In their atmosphere, the works approach painting, its ability to create illusions of space and varied visual meanings. They are like contemporary versions of Claude Monet's haystacks or cathedrals. The excellent perception of space makes it easy to understand that Kekarainen was originally trained as a sculptor, now working with the means of photography and painting.
The exhibition is part of Pertti Kekarainen's work for the degree of Doctor of Arts at the Finnish Academy of Arts.
Galerie Anhava will also display works by Pertti Kekarainen at Art Basel on 4 – 8 June. In the autumn of next year he will hold a major retrospective at the recently enlarged and refurbished Villa Oppenheim in Berlin, from where the showing will go to the Stadtgalerie Kiel. A catalogue will appear in connection with the exhibition.
Ilona Anhava
"Photographs from the series TILA"
Time, space and silence are to be classed as the third dimension. Time is in space, silence resides in space.
A flame must have emptiness around it in order to give light. Without space there is no light.
Joseph Joubert
In the Finnish language, the word tila is used loosely in defining locality, state or position. It can be translated into English as 'space', 'place', 'area', 'room' or 'state of mind', among other meanings. Though sometimes synonymous with spatiality, it has a more finite meaning in connections such as lounge space, storage space or shelf space - and before the Second World War the Germans spoke of Lebensraum - 'living space'. In Finnish, a farm is maatila, literally "land space", a delimited area for the practice of agriculture. Finland's air space is an undemarcated area which the Russians are allowed to violate with the blessing of our government. An individual's finances can be in a good state, pregnancy is known in Finnish as the 'blessed state', and there are many different states of mind and intoxication, all described with the word tila. When a bank manager from East Finland was indicted for fraud and he went on to shoot his wife and three daughters, the court noted that he had acted in 'a state of forced honour'. The bank manager was acquitted, but a new one was put in his place.
Pertti Kekarainen's ( born 1965) forthcoming exhibition features photographs from TILA, his most recent series of works. The variety of meanings and various dimensions of this word in the Finnish language inspired Pertti Kekarainen to plan and realize his latest works.
In formal terms, Pertti Kekarainen's works are characterized by the multi-interpretative nature of space. He combines his photographs with local elements of colour that sometimes appear to conform to the space presented in the piece and are sometimes contrary to it. These features create tension and a slightly surreal atmosphere. The light in the photographs is beautiful and specific to these works. Here, Joubert's statement could be revered: "Without light there is no space".
Ilona Anhava
3.4. - 27.4.2008
"Works from the TILA - SPACE series"
Pertti Kekarainen (born 1965) is one of the most successful names of Finnish photography on the international scene. His works have been on show in solo and joint exhibitions in European museums and galleries, and they have been purchased for the collections of leading international business institutions and for important private collections in Europe, North America and South America. Kekarainen has also made extensive commissioned works for clients in Finland and Sweden.
The present exhibition features works from the TILA – SPACE series that have not been seen previously in Finland along with completely new works. The series deals in a poetic manner with space, its properties and ambiguity. In their atmosphere, the works approach painting, its ability to create illusions of space and varied visual meanings. They are like contemporary versions of Claude Monet's haystacks or cathedrals. The excellent perception of space makes it easy to understand that Kekarainen was originally trained as a sculptor, now working with the means of photography and painting.
The exhibition is part of Pertti Kekarainen's work for the degree of Doctor of Arts at the Finnish Academy of Arts.
Galerie Anhava will also display works by Pertti Kekarainen at Art Basel on 4 – 8 June. In the autumn of next year he will hold a major retrospective at the recently enlarged and refurbished Villa Oppenheim in Berlin, from where the showing will go to the Stadtgalerie Kiel. A catalogue will appear in connection with the exhibition.
Ilona Anhava
"Photographs from the series TILA"
Time, space and silence are to be classed as the third dimension. Time is in space, silence resides in space.
A flame must have emptiness around it in order to give light. Without space there is no light.
Joseph Joubert
In the Finnish language, the word tila is used loosely in defining locality, state or position. It can be translated into English as 'space', 'place', 'area', 'room' or 'state of mind', among other meanings. Though sometimes synonymous with spatiality, it has a more finite meaning in connections such as lounge space, storage space or shelf space - and before the Second World War the Germans spoke of Lebensraum - 'living space'. In Finnish, a farm is maatila, literally "land space", a delimited area for the practice of agriculture. Finland's air space is an undemarcated area which the Russians are allowed to violate with the blessing of our government. An individual's finances can be in a good state, pregnancy is known in Finnish as the 'blessed state', and there are many different states of mind and intoxication, all described with the word tila. When a bank manager from East Finland was indicted for fraud and he went on to shoot his wife and three daughters, the court noted that he had acted in 'a state of forced honour'. The bank manager was acquitted, but a new one was put in his place.
Pertti Kekarainen's ( born 1965) forthcoming exhibition features photographs from TILA, his most recent series of works. The variety of meanings and various dimensions of this word in the Finnish language inspired Pertti Kekarainen to plan and realize his latest works.
In formal terms, Pertti Kekarainen's works are characterized by the multi-interpretative nature of space. He combines his photographs with local elements of colour that sometimes appear to conform to the space presented in the piece and are sometimes contrary to it. These features create tension and a slightly surreal atmosphere. The light in the photographs is beautiful and specific to these works. Here, Joubert's statement could be revered: "Without light there is no space".
Ilona Anhava