Yana Kehrlein

The art of engineering is the focus point for Rom for Kunst in 2009. This year’s fall project features, for the first time in Norway, the French artist Yana Kehrlein. With his series Constellar Cities, Kehrlein approaches the theme with a grand challenge of the perspective.

In Montreal And Its Stars at Oslo S main facade and Buenos Aires And Its Stars on the Airport Express terminal facade the artist cracks open the flat surface of the image and invites us into a large space. Each image is comprised of two photos downloaded from the Internet; one of the city seen from space and one of the stars above the same city. The two-dimensional piece of photographic paper thereby resembles looking down on earth and up at the stars simultaneously. Within this flat surface we linger in a gigantic space, confused about the direction of our gaze. Or maybe we are hovering above it all, and everything down there is only a pattern of light spreading out.

The project was born out of the artist’s particular interest in urban organization. Satellite photos of each city enables the observer to see how a city spreads like an organic entity. When looking at these organic patterns, one can imagine animals, insects or monstrous beings, and new urban tales are created. Yet, these stories remain rooted in social, historic and economic boundaries within each city. Kehrlein challenges the viewer’s perspective throughout Constellar Cities. How we direct our gaze and what we see, will always be structured, and Kehrlein’s work opens up for questioning around this process of structuring.

French born Yana Kehrlein has a background from art-philosophy (University of Provence), photography (Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography, Concordia University) as well as film (Master of Fine Arts, Film Department, Columbia University). His work has been presented at numerous shows in Canada, and are to be found in private collections in Montréal, San Francisco, Paris and Treviso. Kehrlein has directed a series of short films and recently had one of his screenplays produced. Yana Kehrlein lives and works in New York.