Erwin Olaf. Silver

21 september 2003 - 30 november 2003

This large-scale retrospective of 25 years of Erwin Olaf’s photography included a wide range of his autonomous photographs and a selection from his documentary photography, advertising photography, and film and video work.

Unexpected turns, extravagance and exuberance characterise the work of Erwin Olaf (Hilversum 1959). Olaf made his debut at the beginning of the eighties as a journalistic photographer but soon began to specialise in studio photography. He developed his own style, humorous and sensual, which he applied to both his free work and the countless assignments he received from cultural, journalistic and idealistic sectors. His work appeared in magazines like the Haagse Post, Vinyl, Nieuwe Revu, Vrij Nederland and many other publications. In addition, he made photographs for film and theatre posters and for idealistic campaigners such as the Aids Fund and the Animal Protection Society. From the mid-nineties onward, he also worked on assignment for many major, international advertisers. He photographed worldwide campaigns for Diesel, Heineken, Microsoft, and Nokia, some of which were honoured with prestigious awards.
 
At an early stage in his career, he made the decision to take time for the generation of coherent, autonomous series, in addition to the commissions he was receiving. He received the award for Young European Photographer in Cologne for his first autonomous series Chessmen (1987/88). After this, he created an average of one series a year. Chessmen was followed by series such Blacks (1990), Mind of their Own (1995), Mature (1999), and Royal Blood (2000). In these, Olaf consistently plays with the prevailing clichés and norms in a surprising way, especially those concerning beauty. He works with models who do not fulfil commonly held ideals of beauty or composes imaginative stage settings that question such ideals.

According to connoisseur Wim van Sinderen (Fotografen in Nederland, 2002, p. 288), there are very few Dutch photographers who achieve success in artistic photography and in the commercial sector. Furthermore, Olaf has also manifested himself as a maker of films and videoclips, of which a selection will also be shown in the Museum.

Photo
Erwin Olaf, † Di 1997, 2000 (from the series Royal Blood 1999/2000)