Thomas Kellner Sights at the Oldenburg State Museum
A Comprehensive Exhibition of Thomas Kelner's Fine Art Photography
Oldenburg. On September 27, the Oldenburg State Museum opened a comprehensive exhibition entitled “Sights” by the German pfine art photographer Thomas Kellner at Oldenburg Castle. Dr. Andrea Gnam spoke at the opening, providing a knowledgeable and entertaining introduction to the artist's oeuvre. The exhibition title already combines two essential aspects of Kellner's art: iconic buildings and tourist destinations as motifs as well as the play with perspectives and the viewer's gaze.
Since the invention of photography, tourist attractions have been a sought-after motif, not least due to the initially long exposure time, which made it easier for photographers to capture immobile objects. At the turn of the century, the picture postcard established itself as another medium that reflected the increasing mobility of the population.
Kellner's artistic exploration of landmarks began in 1997 with a series of ten images of the Eiffel Tower, inspired by the cubist paintings of Robert Delaunay. The French painter depicted the Eiffel Tower as a dynamic, fragmented structure - a concept that Kellner transferred to his photographic works. The contact sheet is a central element in his oeuvre - by experimenting with the material, he created a new, multi-perspective visual language that moves between reality and illusion and creates an exciting dialectic.
Kellner's artistic work begins long before he presses the shutter release. He plans and designs the shot of his motif in a sketchbook. Each individual shot of the film strip, taken from different camera angles, shows details of the overall motif. The negatives of the contact sheets in strips are then merged into a single work. This technical process produces a deconstructed version of the original building and creates an illusion of movement and dynamism that breaks up and redefines the static image.
In “Sights”, the artist invites visitors to change their perspective by exploring the limits of photography and its claim to reality. The exhibition includes works that show familiar motifs from our collective visual memory in a new light. In addition to the Eiffel Tower, these include the iconic residential district in Aarhus, which breaks like a wave in Kellner's depiction, as well as the Grand Canyon, whose monumental expanse extends in a photograph over four meters long. These works illustrate not only Kellner's way of working, but also his ability to adapt it flexibly and transfer it to different projects.
The show is like a (world) journey through the artist's multi-layered oeuvre and underlines the relevance of analog photography in the digital age. Through an intensive examination of his own perception and the playful manipulation of perspective, Kellner shows how important it is to question and change one's own point of view.
Thomas Kellner
Thomas Kellner, born in Bonn in 1966, was already interested in the visual arts as a child. He initially studied art, sociology, politics and economics at the University of Siegen. Kellner discovered his passion for photography in 1993 while working on a pinhole camera project. Three years later, he was awarded the Kodak Young Talent Award, which encouraged him to pursue a life as a photographer and artist. Since then, Kellner has lived and worked as a freelance artist and curator of photographic exhibition projects in Siegen.
His work, which is represented in private and public collections, has also been shown in numerous group and solo exhibitions, including in Germany, France, Brazil, Australia and the USA. In 2003, Thomas Kellner was appointed to the German Photographic Society (DGPh).
The exhibition Sights by the German photo artist Thomas Kellner can be seen in Oldeburg until January 12, 2025.
Maren Ullrich
Martina Lau
0441 40570-434
presse@landesmuseum-ol.de
Information about Sights at Oldenburg State Museum
Thomas Kellner. Sights
September 27, 2024 - January 12, 2025
Landesmuseum Kunst & Kultur, Oldenburg, Germany
Castle, Schlossplatz 1, 26122 Oldenburg, Germany
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Maren Ullrich
Martina Lau
+49 441 40570-434
presse@landesmuseum-ol.de
