Erwin Olaf
dal 20/9/2003 al 30/11/2003
Segnalato da
20/9/2003
Erwin Olaf
Groninger Museum, Groningen
The exhibition offers a broad selection from Olaf’s entire 25 years of professional activity analysing all the aspects of his production
From 21 September to 30 November 2003, the Groninger Museum will present a large-scale retrospective of 25 years of Erwin Olaf’s photography. The exhibition includes 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.
The exhibition in the Groninger Museum devotes attention to all aspects of the work of Erwin Olaf, but the accent lies on the autonomous series. The most recent series, which have scarcely (or even not at all) been displayed in the Netherlands, constitute an important part of this exhibition. Paradise The Club (2001) is a critical observation of the party culture and the unbridled hedonism of the nineties. The images present stormy festivities, teeming with people, in which woman are assaulted by sinister clowns. Olaf took his inspiration for this series not only from his own experiences in the party circuit but also from the painting of The Rape of Hippodameia by Rubens, which hangs in the Prado. Rubens was a master in the depiction of grandiose scenes in which eroticism and violence go hand in hand. Olaf has always nurtured a fondness for the baroque, but this is the first time such complex configurations appear in his autonomous work. In Paradise Portraits (2001), he presents a series of close-ups of the faces of beautiful young women and scary clowns.
With Separation (2002/2003), Olaf has created his most introverted series up until now. The characters are dressed from top to toe in black rubber, but every association with kinky sex is misplaced. The clothing appears to be symbolic for the frozen isolation of the figures. A boy and his mother are situated in a house that offers no warmth whatsoever. From a lowered (child’s) perspective, we see a number of scenes from the life of the boy, who ages with every photograph. Separation is also the title of a short film that Olaf made in 2003.
A book with an overview of Olaf’s work will be published to accompany the exhibition.
Curators: Sue-an van der Zijpp, Ruud Schenk
Groninger Museum
Museumeiland 1
9711 ME Groningen
tel.: + 31 (0)50 3666555
fax: + 31 (0)50 3120815
info: + 31 (0)900-8212132