“There is no way to neither classify it as photography nor declassify it as such.” Corrêa do Lago, André. 2010. “Thomas Kellner and the Challenge of the Connection Between Photography and Architecture.” In Thomas Kellner: Brasilia – 50 Anos De Utopia Moderna, page 22
Is it possible to imagine a “shaking” building? – A building waving to the sound of a fairytale? –
A “dizzy” building? Since 2 decades Thomas Kellner is working in contact sheets and multiple exposure projects, exploring the possibilities of cubism, or deconstruction in photography. The contact sheet is usually the expectant in-between stage, the stage when the real picture is latent, awaiting its final enlarged development. But in his final works it is the exposed film in chronological order on the contact sheet itself, showing the negatives in a 1:1 ratio. The number of exposures of a single building can range from a few to a thousand.
Waves is located in the Cubist tradition - its truth-value becomes more an issue of the viewer’s perception of these monumental buildings. Each exposure in Waves represents a frozen view of the precise part of the building the eye strikes for a single split second. The final whole is comprised of endless impressions of different instants. Beneath the surface of the works there is thus a subtle concurrence with the challenge to linear perspective.
With newly discovered energy, Waves manages to shake the very foundations of these static monuments, moving beyond the evident beauty of the objects themselves, leaving the contact sheet in his new works, like the waves reach the shore.
Since 1989 Thomas Kellner is living in Siegen and since 1997 working there as a freelance artist and Fine art photographer. His works were shown in solo exhibitions in London, Paris, Brasilia, Sydney and New York. Museums, like in Houston, Chicago, Rochester and Rio de Janeiro included his pictures in their collections. His works for the bicentenary jubilee of the Boston Athenaeum and for the 50th anniversary of Brasilia’s capital Brasília and for the 290th anniversary of Yekaterinburg belong to the biggest projects of the last years that he worked on.
Artworks
All images, all prices here!
Exhibitions
July 3–31, 2022
Galerie im Stammelbachspeicher, Hildesheim, Germany
November 5, 2017 - February 28, 2018
Kunstverein Siegen & Hees Bürowelt, Siegen, Germany
Publications
Monograph
Kellner, Thomas, ed. 2018. Thomas Kellner: Flucticulus. Lüdenscheid, Berlin: Seltmann+Söhne.
Exhibition catalogs
Bundesverband Bildender Künstlerinnen und Künstler Westfalen e.V., ed. 2018. Abwechslung Erfreut: 3 Variationen Über Ein Thema. Dortmund.
Cegielska, Beate, ed. 2017. Fresh Eyes: International Artists Rethink Århus. Århus: Galleri Image; Århus Litteraturcenter.
Anthologies
Seltmann+Söhne, ed. 2018. Herbst/Fall 2018. Berlin: Seltmann+Söhne.
Articles in newspapers
Leipold, Wolfgang. 2017. “Thomas Kellner Und Die Perfekte Welle: Der Fotokünstler Präsentiert Bei Hees Bürowelt Seine Neuesten Arbeiten. Hauptthema: Bewegung.” Westfälische Rundschau, November 3. 255.
TV contributions
Brinkhoff, Katja. (2018) 2018. “Fotograf Thomas Kellner.” WDR. February 2, 2018. Lokalzeit Südwestfalen. Accessed February 04, 2018.
Online publications
Althaus, Bärbel. 2017. “Thomas Kellner Im „Rampenlicht“.” Accessed February 13, 2018. web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.siegener-zeitung.de/siegener-zeitung/Thomas-Kellner-im-Rampenlicht-838253be-7c87-436e-bd2d-ac8c67f83397-ds.
“Experimental Approaches: Part I.” Accessed March 05, 2018. web.archive.org/web/20180718142709/http://www.thevisualist.org/2018/01/experimental-approaches-part-i/.
