02. April 2006: Cohen Amador Gallery New York presents Thomas Kellner Tango Metropolis

Thomas Kellner: Tango Metropolis

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Exhibition: "Thomas Kellner: Tango Metropolis"

April 4 – May 27, 2006

Opening Reception: Wednesday April 12, 6-8 PM

 

The Cohen Amador Gallery is pleased to announce "Tango Metropolis" an exhibition of German photographer Thomas Kellner’s deconstructive architectural photocollages. Utilizing a unique combinative technique, Kellner reconstructs the visual language of common architectural sights showing the rigid and austere shape of buildings and monuments in humorous and surprising ways. The exhibition will be on view from April 4 – May 27, 2006.

 

The intrigue of Kellner’s work lies in its simultaneous participation in avant-gardist and historical photographic discourses while maintaining a level of individuality and aesthetic merit that captures the eye and refuses to let go. Aligned in the trajectory of great historical photomontage and collage artists like George Grosz and Aleksandr Rodchenko as well as participating in the cubistic dialogues of Picasso and Delauney, Kellner draws from extreme and broad influences. His signature and methodical style involves the precise and sequential photographing of individual fragments of his subjects and then printing the contact sheet in the exact order in which the images were shot. In this reversal of the generally exhibited photo work, the contact sheet becomes the finished product and can involve anywhere from 36 to 1,296 exposures, creating a disruptive yet pleasing effect. The Washington Capitol Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, Big Ben, the Vatican, nothing is safe and nothing is sacred when Kellner turns his deconstructing eye upon a subject. To look upon Stonehenge or the Guggenheim Museum as they articulate quirkily upward in new and pleasurable ways makes them appear less concrete, less stolidly disconnected and lets us rediscover these monuments, as though seeing them for the first time. By paradoxically using photography to reestablish individuality to that which has been disseminated on such a mass scale by photography, Kellner gives voice to the architectural world around him. Rather than their general stern faced detachment, Kellner’s monuments smile and laugh and participate in the world around them.

 

Born in Bonn, Germany in 1966, Kellner has been exhibited widely in his native Germany where he won Kodak’s award for young photographers in 1997. His experimental method has brought him international recognition, exhibiting in solo and group shows throughout Europe as well as Brazil and the U.S. In 2002 he was the youngest photographer included in an exhibition at the Musée de Grenoble of architectural photography masters, including historic greats like Sheeler, Strand and Atget as well as lauded contemporary figures such as Thomas Struth and Hiroshi Sugimoto. Recently in 2004 he received a visiting professorship for Photography in Art at the Justus-Liebig University of Giessen. His photographs are included in collections such as the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Museum of Photography in Burghausen and the Collection Schupmann in Germany.

 

The Cohen Amador Gallery is located in the landmark Fuller Building in New York City at 41 East 57th Street on the 6th floor. Gallery hours are 11 to 6 Tuesday through Saturday and by appointment. For additional information, please contact the gallery at 212-759-6740, for more information visit www.cohenamador.com or contact us at info@cohenamador.com.