ERWIN OLAF cuarenta años de creación
«What I really want to show is a perfect world with a crack in it. My work is to make the picture attractive enough for people to want to look at the story I’m telling them, and then give them a slap." With this quote, Erwin Olaf summarizes forty years of a career in photography and video on the issue of disorder. Since its inception, he has built a universe in a recognizable chromatic range with diffused refinement. However the second viewing of his images, gives off a strange feeling from which emerges a mystery, a dull anguish. He likes to play on this duality. For his double exhibition at the Hague Museum in 2019, he wanted to surprise the audience with a photographic installation combining sculptures and sounds. Portraits of sophisticated young women, male nudes, still lifes and lonely children remain his favourite themes. With an alternation of large and medium formats, the extremely careful prints testify to its aesthetics imprinted with strangeness for 40 years. For his first collaboration with the Mexican gallery, Erwin Olaf chose with Patricia Conde a selection of works highlighting his passion for the history of art and especially for the golden age period of Dutch painting. The reference to classical painting by the great Dutch masters such as Vermeer and Pieter Claesz have embodied his photographic compositions since his beginnings. It is important to recall how the artist makes his shots in the manner of his masters, fascinated by the light of Rembrandt’s works and the precision of Claesz's vanitas. Just like them, Erwin Olaf uses a dark background on which he puts a silky fabric to compose still lifes, vanities or portraits. He does not hesitate to break the codes of classical portraits that he observed a lot during his visits to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The frontal portrait of the woman in the headband with a diamond collar, gives another dimension to Olaf’s story. He takes pleasure in challenging the codes of the gender where man traditionally symbolizes the warrior marked by wounds to the face. Here a mature woman takes on the role of the warrior, the dominatrix. Olaf does not hesitate to add iconographic elements attributed to the S&M medium that he often photographed in his early works. Through his portraits and still lifes, Erwin Olaf points out the current problems of Western societies such as the question of gender, discrimination and religious abuse. We feel in the artist the constant imperative need to address the poisons of our contemporary societies to better fight them. He began his career as an advertising photographer and knows the other side of the scene. The issues of power, the place of women in society and loneliness remain points of entry into his work. If his first subversive works made him known to an audience of insiders, his themes on feminine sophistication, male nudes and portraits of children opened the doors of a wider recognition. For an advertising campaign, he had fun revisiting the iconic painting "Girl with the Pearl Earring" by Johannes Vermeer by making the model wear a hat of huge wool, similar to that worn by Jamaicans hiding their dreadlocks. Nothing seems to stop the tireless Erwin Olaf in his introspective quest. He continues to willingly stage himself, as in this enigmatic self portrait as a priest, leaving the interpretation to the viewer. Beatrice Andrieux - Art critic Paris - February 2021
«Lo que realmente quiero mostrar es un mundo perfecto con una grieta en él. Mi trabajo es hacer que la imagen sea lo suficientemente atractiva como para que la gente quiera ver la historia que les estoy contando, y luego darles una bofetada". Con esta cita, Erwin Olaf resume cuarenta años de carrera en fotografía y vídeo sobre el tema del desorden. Desde sus inicios, ha construido un universo en una gama cromática reconocible con refinamiento difuso. Sin embargo, la segunda visión de sus imágenes, desprende una extraña sensación de la que surge un misterio, una angustia aburrida. Le gusta jugar con esta dualidad. Para su doble exposición en el Museo de La Haya en 2019, quiso sorprender al público con una instalación fotográfica que combina esculturas y sonidos. Retratos de mujeres jóvenes sofisticadas, desnudos masculinos, bodegones y niños solitarios siguen siendo sus temas favoritos. Con una alternancia de formatos grandes y medianos, las impresiones extremadamente cuidadas dan testimonio de su estética impresa con extrañeza durante 40 años. Para su primera colaboración con la galería mexicana, Erwin Olaf eligió junto a Patricia Conde una selección de obras destacando su pasión por la historia del arte y especialmente por el período de la edad de oro de la pintura holandesa. La referencia a la pintura clásica de los grandes maestros holandeses como Vermeer y Pieter Claesz ha encarnado sus composiciones fotográficas desde sus inicios. Es importante recordar cómo el artista hace sus tomas a la manera de sus maestros, fascinado por la luz de las obras de Rembrandt y la precisión de las vanitas de Claesz. Al igual que ellos, Erwin Olaf utiliza un fondo oscuro en el que pone un tejido sedoso para componer bodegones, vanidades o retratos. No duda en romper los códigos de los retratos clásicos que observó mucho durante sus visitas al Rijksmusuem de Ámsterdam. El retrato frontal de la mujer en la diadema con un collar de diamantes, da otra dimensión a la historia de Olaf. Se complace en desafiar los códigos del género donde el hombre tradicionalmente simboliza al guerrero marcado con heridas en la cara. Aquí una mujer madura asume el papel de la guerrera, la dominatrix. Olaf no duda en añadir elementos iconográficos atribuidos al medio S&M que a menudo fotografiaba en sus primeras obras. A través de sus retratos y bodegones, Erwin Olaf señala los problemas actuales de las sociedades occidentales como la cuestión del género, la discriminación y el abuso religioso. Sentimos en el artista la constante necesidad imperiosa de abordar los venenos de nuestras sociedades contemporáneas para combatirlos mejor. Comenzó su carrera como fotógrafo publicitario y conoce el otro lado de la escena. Los temas del poder, el lugar de la mujer en la sociedad y la soledad siguen siendo puntos de entrada en su trabajo. Si sus primeras obras subversivas lo hicieron conocido por un público de expertos, sus temas sobre sofisticación femenina, desnudos masculinos y retratos de niños abrieron las puertas de un reconocimiento más amplio. Para una campaña publicitaria, se divirtió revisitando la icónica pintura "Girl with the Pearl Earring" de Johannes Vermeer haciendo que la modelo llevara un sombrero de lana enorme, similar al que usan los jamaiquinos que esconden sus rastas. Nada parece detener al incansable Erwin Olaf en su búsqueda introspectiva. Sigue escenificando voluntariamente, como en este enigmático autorretrato como sacerdote, dejando la interpretación al espectador. Beatrice Andrieux - Crítica de arte París - Febrero 2021
Erwin Olaf Cena in Emmaus Laboral Escena Gijon series 2016 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 60 x 80 cm Ed. 1/10
Erwin Olaf Vogue NL #01 Vogue NL series 2013 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 78 x 60 cm Ed. 6/10
Erwin Olaf Vogue NL #06 Vogue NL series 2013 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 78 x 60 cm Ed. AP 1
Erwin Olaf Balenciaga Felipe II (Vanity Fair) series 2019 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 120 x 90 cm Ed. 7/10
Erwin Olaf Moschino Felipe II (Vanity Fair) series 2019 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 120 x 90 cm Ed. 1/10
Erwin Olaf Shrimp Felipe II (Vanity Fair) series 2019 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 120 x 90 cm Ed. 1/10
Erwin Olaf Iris Van Herpen Felipe II (Vanity Fair) series 2019 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 120 x 90 cm Ed. 2/10
Erwin Olaf Olivier Theyskens II Felipe II (Vanity Fair) series 2019 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 120 x 90 cm Ed. 2/10
Erwin Olaf Oteyza (Self-portrait) Felipe II (Vanity Fair) series 2019 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 120 x 90 cm Ed. 1/10
Erwin Olaf Erdem Felipe II (Vanity Fair) series 2019 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 120 x 90 cm Ed. 1/10
Erwin Olaf People of the Labyrinths #01 People of the Labyrinths series 2005 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 120 x 120 cm Ed. 8/10
Erwin Olaf People of the Labyrinths #10 People of the Labyrinths series 2005 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 120 x 120 cm Ed. 2/10
Erwin Olaf People of the Labyrinths #19 People of the Labyrinths series 2005 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 120 x 120 cm Ed. 3/10
Erwin Olaf People of the Labyrinths #02 People of the Labyrinths series 2005 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 60 x 60 cm Ed. 7/20
Erwin Olaf People of the Labyrinths #05 People of the Labyrinths series 2005 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 120 x 120 cm Ed. 4/10
Erwin Olaf People of the Labyrinths #09 People of the Labyrinths series 2005 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 60 x 60 cm Ed. 4/20
Erwin Olaf People of the Labyrinths #11 People of the Labyrinths series 2005 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 60 x 60 cm Ed. 1/20
Erwin Olaf People of the Labyrinths #13 People of the Labyrinths series 2005 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 60 x 60 cm Ed. 2/20
Erwin Olaf People of the Labyrinths #14 People of the Labyrinths series 2005 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 60 x 60 cm Ed. 2/20
Erwin Olaf People of the Labyrinths #14 People of the Labyrinths series 2005 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 60 x 60 cm Ed. 2/20
Erwin Olaf People of the Labyrinths #21 People of the Labyrinths series 2005 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 120 x 120 cm Ed. 1/10
Erwin Olaf People of the Labyrinths #23 People of the Labyrinths series 2005 C-print on Fuji Crystal Archive Digital paper 60 x 60 cm Ed. 2/20
Erwin Olaf Life - For Mom 2018 Full HD Video Ed. AP 1
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