Lot 34: PERTTI KEKARAINEN (b.1965 Finnish)

PERTTI KEKARAINEN (b.1965 Finnish)
TILA (Opening II), 2007
oversized chromogenic print
signed in ink on typed label with credit, title, date and edition '5/5' on backing board
76½ x 63¾in. (195 x 162cm.)

Pertti Kekarainen: Density -- Tila Series, Photology, 2006, for other images from Tila (fig.H).

I think it's interesting to combine illusory space with real space.

PERTTI KEKARAINEN, 2008

DISTINCTIVELY NORDIC
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.
This work is number 5 from the sold-out edition of 5 + 2 AP.

Tila, the title of the series, is a Finnish word with multiple meanings from space, place and room to state of mind, circumstance and condition. In the series TILA, started in 2004, Kekarainen uses both analogue and digital photography to explore notions of space from an abstract viewpoint. The apparent life-size scale of the works gives the viewer an impression of looking at 'real' spaces.

In TILA (Opening II), we appear to be in an interior space looking through receding windowpane-like structures at an exterior view of a blurred building in the distance. A number of ambiguous elements -- a semi-transparent black field, a blue patch, a frosted pane, and a sphere, with a non-descript reflection, suspended in mid-air -- disrupt our field of vision. Devoid of humans, Kekarainen's constructed image invites the viewer to interact with space itself.

Kekarainen, a trained sculptor and painter, has focused on photography since 1993. His works have been exhibited internationally in numerous solo and group shows, including the Helsinki School travelling exhibitions, and are held in private, institutional and corporate collections, such as The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki and Deutsche Bank, London. He lives and works in Helsinki.