Photografica Weblog

If you don’t know this photographer, go and have a look at his web site. Erwin Olaf is a Dutch photographer & film maker, who produces brilliant, top-end advertising work for his living, and does equally spectacular art photography as his personal work. I went to one of his touring exhibitions last year entitled Elegance and Perversity, and this man and his work just boggled my mind. Never before have I seen the technical, conceptual and aesthetic triumvirate come together in such a sophisticated, modern and challenging way. Admittedly, the man’s work is not for everyone. But that said, he has two types of personal work and the more restrained and subtle side of his work, as exemplified by the series Hope for example, is most assuredly open to most who are lovers of fine art photography, no matter what their social or sexual attitudes. But there is also a much darker side of his work, focusing on sexuality and consumerism and if you are socially or sexually conservative, this work may not sit easily with you .

Olaf Erwin is gay, and in some of his work, that part of his identity is very much under the microscope. For a non-gay like myself I found it to be a fascinating insight into that world. His series entitled Paradise The Club is amazing because of its open debauchedness. Another series called Separation is much more disturbing material, dealing as it does with full body rubber suits and child and mother relationships… Very strange indeed.

Backstage, from Paradise The Club. These were a series of digital montages, taken from a recreation of a real party that Erwin staged in a warehouse. The expressions captured are priceless in their perversity.

His more austere work is very toned down, very subtle stuff. His two series called Hope and Rain were beautifully low key, with amazing compositions and attention to detail the focus of the work. In particular I was captured by his ability to create dynamic tension in the composition by the positioning of two subjects in the same frame. This relationship between subjects was central conceptually. Another delightful quirks was the placement of an electrical lead somewhere in the frame, hopelessly destroying the perfection of the composition and at the same time rescuing it from sterility. He won an international colour award for the Hope series.

To see the man’s work up close was a privilege. The prints were very large and Olaf’s technical abilities were glorious to see. Conceptually, I don’t think I have seen another photographer quite like him. In this regard, he reminds me of Duane Michaels. Aesthetically, his work is fabulous as well, with his colour work and attention to detail something that needs to be seen to be believed.

As far as photography goes for me, this man is as close to Godhead as is humanly possible. He has the complete package of technical skills and artistic and conceptual genius, as well as the financial resources to overcome any limitation to turning his imagination into photographs. If you ever get near Amsterdam, there are many chances for you to see his work in galleries over there. Otherwise go and look at the web site and try to imagine what these fabulous shots look like at full size and under good lighting.

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