Message from 03/19/2022
Thomas Kellner wins the competition for a representation in the Klompching Gallery in New York with his Siegerland half-timbered houses. New York is one of the most important centers for art galleries in the world. It hosts the largest concentration of galleries with over 1500 exhibition venues showing different artworks with different backgrounds every day.
Siegen/New York City. Some of these galleries hold competitions to showcase new artworks from around the world. The Klompching Gallery is one of those art galleries in New York. Founded in Dumbo, Brooklyn in September 2007 by Darren Ching and Debra Klomp Ching, two successful photographers and curators, it has now established itself as a gallery with an exceptional program of artists representing notable examples of contemporary photography. Some of her exhibitions are featured in major newspapers such as the New Yorker or the Wall Street Journal.
Only 20 finalists – One from victories
As a member of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD), the gallery exhibits at the New York Photography Show each year. The gallery has a very good reputation because it introduces new artists, very special works, and advises on the acquisition of art photographs. The “FRESH” Annual Photography Exhibition was created in 2011 by Darren Ching and Debra Klomp Ching and is presented by the Klompching Gallery in New York City. Finalists can win either the Rhonda Wilson Award or a Klompching Edition publication of their work or a People’s Choice Award for a one-year contract with the gallery. From a group of 20 finalists, only five will be selected to be physically exhibited at the New York gallery. All 20 will be presented in an online exhibition. The winner of the People’s Choice Award will be determined via the gallery’s Instagram page. The artists’ works will be posted on the page and the one who gets the most likes will be declared the winner of the contest.
Half-timbered houses from the Siegerland
Thomas Kellner nearly won the People’s Choice Award with the generous support of his fans, the region and even the local football club, Sportfreunde Siegen. But shortly before the end he was overtaken by Ingrid Weyland. For this competition, Thomas Kellner presented photographs of half-timbered houses around Siegerland in Germany. The half-timbered houses around Siegen from the Thomas Kellner series
Half-timbered houses in the Siegen industrial area today are timeless images of culture and society in Siegerland. These fine art photography images are a nod to the work of two internationally renowned photographers, Bernd and Hilla Becher, who also photographed these half-timbered houses 50 years ago, who have had prolific artistic careers and are internationally recognized for their work. At the time they described themselves as “archaeologists of industrial architecture”. In 2021, Thomas Kellner continued her legacy in a series of 19 architectural photographs of half-timbered houses as they are today. The reference to the Bechers’ photographs does not prevent the artist from giving them his own signature and, as Dr. As Andrea Gnam puts it, “playing with the conversion to black and white, the shading, the focus on details that remain in the colour, the dreamy blur in the background”. All of this allows his photographs to appear as works of art in their own right, but also parallel to their original inspirations.
Thomas Kellner, born in Bonn in 1966, is a photo artist and curator and lives in Siegen. He studied art, sociology, politics and economics at the University of Siegen. Since 2002, he has shown his work in many solo exhibitions in the United States and around the world, including in New York in 2003 and 2008. In addition to his half-timbered houses, Thomas Kellner is also known for his cubist approach to fragmented buildings, which he reassembles into a heterogeneous conglomerate of forms. His works play with our perception. In his projects he offers completely new perspectives on the objects he photographs. With his art photography, Thomas Kellner made it among the five finalists in the art photo competition organized by the Klompching Gallery in Brooklyn. His work will now be represented by the gallery for the next 12 months. With this, he once again managed to gain a foothold in New York and, like Becher before him, established himself as international
recognized photo artist to a global audience in New York. (PM)
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