Galleri Image presents:

Thomas Kellner * Germany

"Tango Metropolis"

3rd – 24th of April, Tuesday – Sunday, 01-05pm

Reception: Vestergade 29, 8000 Århus C, Saturday 2nd of April, 02-04pm

 

 

It is with our great pleasure that Galleri Image presents Tango Metropolis by Thomas Kellner.

Can you imagine a grand party, starring the most famous and photographed buildings in the world – all meeting to shake off those static and stereotypical tourist photographs? Then you will be close to some of the feelings you get when seeing the works of German artist, Thomas Kellner, for the first time.

The title itself, Tango Metropolis, sends our minds towards a dancing metropolis in which the “personalities” of all the tourist attractions come out at night, asking each other out to dance without anyone seeing it – especially the tourist cameras. In many ways, this unoriginal tendency of copying postcard photographs of famous architecture and places in the world again and again is exactly what is being commented on here. Thus, beneath the unique and esthetic expressions of these playful surfaces lie several levels of content – one being a more serious message about the expansion of mass photography.

Accordingly, these expressions are the result of a completely unique and innovative way of photography. At first glance the works appear as puzzles, carefully pasted into an artistic collage. However, it quickly becomes evident that each piece consists of the contact print itself, which is usually used for choosing the best exposure to be developed afterwards. But from the film of Thomas Kellner no exposures are left out, on the contrary, everything is developed and shown at the same time, a fact that is revealed to us by the chronological numbers on the film under each little picture. Thus, all of the buildings are exposed from bottom left to top right corner – but from many different angles at the same time.

Presenting a unity of amazing methodic awareness and sparkling energy, Tango Metropolis makes the esthetic encounter vibrate in well-deserved superlatives.

Thomas Kellner was presented the “Kodak-Award for Young Professional” 1996/97. Up until now his work has been exhibited on permanent collections, solo-, and group exhibitions in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London, Berlin, Toronto, Düsseldorf, Vienna, Paris, and Mexico City to name just a few of the metropolises. Furthermore, there are several monographs about his work. Therefore, it is with great pleasure Galleri Image presents the work of Thomas Kellner for the first time ever in Denmark.

In connection with the exhibition, Galleri Image offers guided tours and publishes a catalogue with a text written by Ditte Maria Bangsund-Pedersen. Further information and high solution pictures are obtainable by contacting Galleri Image on +45 86202429 or info@galleriimage.dk.

The exhibition is supported by Århus Kommunes Kulturudviklingspulje and Goethe-Institut Copenhagen.

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