MOOD HUNTER: Erwin Olaf
Born in 1959 in Hilversum (the Netherlands), lives in Amsterdam (the Netherlands).
Erwin Olaf's art implicitly visualises the unspoken, the overlooked, that which typically resists easy documentation. Olaf's trademark is to address social issues, taboos and bourgeois conventions within the framework of a highly stylised and cunning mode of imagery.
Mixing photo journalism with studio photography, Olaf emerged on the international art scene in 1988, when his series Chessmen was awarded the first prize in the Young European Photographer competition. This award was followed by an exhibition at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany in the same year. In his earlier work on the subject of social exclusion Olaf was deliberately disturbing with the intention of raising awareness and he was dedicated towards exploring issues of class, race, sexual taste, beliefs, habits and grace.
Olaf's visually sophisticated and conceptually provocative style has been embraced by the advertising world. His worldwide campaigns for Diesel Jeans and Heineken won him the coveted Silver Lion at the Cannes Lions Festival for Advertising. In 2010 Louis Vuitton commissioned Olaf for a portrait series in collaboration with the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
Erwin Olaf has had numerous important group and solo exhibitions both nationally and internationally.
From the series "The Keyhole", 2011
From the series "Hotel", 2010
From the series "Dawn", 2009
From the series "Grief", 2007
From the series "Rain", 2004
From the series "Blacks", 1990
From the series "Hope portraits", 2005
From the series "Mature", 1999
From the series "Squares", 1983-1993
From the series "Body parts", 1992
From the series "Paradise portraits", 2001
More: http://www.erwinolaf.com
Maksym Bilousov
