Erwin Olaf: Mind of Their Own

Erwin Olaf

Arts & Photography

Uitgeverij Focus

Imitation decors with muted colours, reminding the viewer of bygone post-war interiors, and technicolour films form the backdrop for a collection of icy and solitary figures, fixed in time as a series of eerie advertisements for loneliness. The two series of works presented here, a total of 20 photographs all counted, represent a new ambitious direction for this Dutch photographer.

Erwin Olaf - Rain/Hope

Photography & Video

Flatland

Erwin Olaf, one of the best know and most over-the-top Dutch photographers of today--think David LaChapelle crossed with Playboy)--lives a passionate, lusty affair with life, enjoying it to the fullest extent, a true gastronome of the art of living. His oeuvre stands as a manifestation of this very passion and of his very genuine engagement with his subjects. Over the last 25 years, he has evolved from a photographer who captures reality to a director who creates it; either way, the depicted reality is one filled with humor, imagination, sexuality, and exuberance, raising issues of freedom, beauty, loneliness, and difference. A master who can generate his own, perverse world through autonomous photographic series, grandiose parties, and film projects alike, he is also hypercritical, an artist from whom nothing escapes. Thus his fictions are convincing, his images full of bygone days, fairytales, and dreams, populated by historical figures, elves, dwarves, lunati!  cs, and creatures that defy easy description.      Essays by William Elia, Jonathan Turner and Ruud Schenk. ~Foreword by Kees van Twist.

Erwin Olaf: Silver, Second Edition

Exclusive art project by photographer Erwin Olaf and choreographer Hans van Manen offering a unique view on dance and photography 
“Ballet inspires me. Human beings have the capacity to express themselves through many art forms, but when it comes to dance – and especially classical modern ballet – I am always amazed by that unbelievably elevated form of expression. It's so precise and so incredibly skilled; I admire that enormously.” ― Photographer and filmmaker Erwin Olaf 
“The fact that the photographer is looking through the camera lens means they have a different perspective from looking directly at the figure. That is voyeuristic. The camera can do something that the audience member can't: zooming in for a close-up.” ― Choreographer Hans van Manen 
The grand master of Dutch dance, Hans van Manen, celebrates his 90th birthday this year. That has given rise to international celebrations by leading ballet companies with the Hans van Manen festival from 8 to 29 June 2022, the exclusive publication Dance in Close-Up and the exhibition of the same name in Galerie Ron Mandos in Amsterdam from 19 June to 17 July 2022. 
From the 1970s to the 1990s, Hans van Manen was not only one of the world's leading choreographers, but also an internationally acclaimed photographer. It was during this period that the then very young photographer Erwin Olaf met the famed artist, who immediately took him under his wing and introduced him to the world of the visual arts and studio photography. 
This book celebrates their 40 years of friendship, with a photo series in which Van Manen directs moments from his choreographic career, recorded with the utmost precision by Erwin Olaf. 
With text contributions from the authors Nina Siegal and Michael James Gardner.

Dance in Close-Up Hans van Manen seen by Erwin Olaf /anglais/nEerlandais

HANNIBAL

Erwin Olaf s art visualizes implicitly the unspoken, the overlooked, that typically resists easy documentation. Olaf s trademark is to address social issues, taboos, and bourgeois conventions in a highly stylized and cunning mode of image making. Alongside new and unpublished work, this book shows an overview of all the personal work that Olaf made during the past 25 years.

Erwin Olaf - Own

Lido