LONDON.-Purdy Hicks Gallery will reveal a major new body of work by Finnish photographer, Ola Kolehmainen, in his first UK solo exhibition this May. Kolehmainen’s highly ambitious images present ambiguous, multidimensional views of reality that communicate the artist’s own experience of architecture and space.

Educated at the Helsinki School of Art and Design, Kolehmainen can be linked to other major names in Finnish photography including Miklos Gaal and Elina Brotherus. There is no distinct style or genre that defines the Helsinki School, but rather its approach - using thoroughly planned and rigorously executed concepts - that unite it artistically. Heavily influenced by Nordic prototypes such as Alvar Aalto, the impact of architectural modernism is clearly apparent in Kolehmainen’s work.

Ola Kolehmainen plays with the viewer’s sense of space, challenging and subverting one’s initial perceptions. At first glance he appears to adhere to a strong sense of structure, following grid-like configurations by using clean, repetitive patterns. Kolehmainen’s images abstract a location so far from their actual appearance that it becomes difficult to read what or where they are, stripping them of their identity.

By cutting out what he considers to be unnecessary within a space (what he has called ‘visual noise’), Kolehmainen is able to focus on purely what is essential, transforming three-dimensional edifices and architectural details into two-dimensional surfaces.

Reacting against simplicity and order, Kolehmainen subtly twists the viewer’s stance through the reflection of surrounding architectural planes, often seen mirrored in the minimalist plane of his work. Such wavering between dimensions produces an unsettling sense of reality. His images exude colour and light that bounce off the image with a seductive grace. The glossy resonance of architectural facades moulded with the smooth lines of contemporary infrastructure results in a mystical quality, emphasising the coexistence of truth and illusion.