From space to plane, to become space

In my works I concentrate on what is essential in a space, building or structure, leaving out things that are unnecessary, which I call visual noise. The original forms of my subjects often contain many repeated elements, a single form or material, often the same, in large quantities. When three-dimensional forms of this kind are photographed they tend to become surfaces, planes. The visual cleansing of a theme, its representation in a large-format photograph laminated on acrylic will, however, produce a new kind of multidimensional image of reality.

The removal of noise will make some themes almost abstract constructions. In the finished work their essence wavers between three-dimensionality and the plane. Where the surface of a work reflects from a certain angle the architectonic state of its surroundings, the viewing situation is shaped by the viewer’s distance from the piece, his or her perspective. The work is transformed from a mirror-like plane into an image, then into space, and again into matter.

With the volume of the work I want to pass on to the viewer my own cathartic experience of space.

The physical space surrounding us has always existed. It is always present in all realities of different age. Caves and primitive shelters have only taken on a new form. It has been said that nutrition is the first expression of culture. The second one is the space that surrounds us: its function, and slightly later its form.

Ola Kolehmainen, 2002

Photography of architecture, new awareness of volume and it´s relationship to space

Ola Kolehmainen’s current project can be broken into three phases. The first being the measurement of the emotional, the second the physical, and the third the sensory perception of a new awareness of volume and its relationships to space.

The first set of work is feeling out the patterns of movement through the densities of emotional spaces. Kolehmainen used the interiors of churches in Europe as my backdrop. He was not focusing on any specific time period but more on the atmosphere created by the patterns followed by human emotional behaviour.

After reviewing the church works Ola Kolehmainen realized that contemporary European architecture in its purest form by elements reflected within a certain space, can also capture a physical sense of density and volume.

From this point he concentrated first on Jean Nouvel´s Instutite du Monde Arabe (IMA) in Paris and then began to move east ward. He was especially looking for works of architecture that defined our way of seeing by their visual dimensions. The breakdown of those dimensions by elements defines the current patterns we live with today.

His third phase is to continue one step further by revealing his Northern prototypes (i.e. Alvar Aalto) through his critical studies on the continent.

Thus he has tried to capture visually an attitude coupled with a new understanding; a sense of perception of the boundaries by which we have been defining our present European life.

The future of Europe is in realizing that its perimeters are boundless if we can appreciate the sanctuaries from within.