Erwin Olaf |
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| Photographer:
| Olaf, Erwin |
| Text by:
| Foster, Alasdair |
| ISBN: | 978-1-59711-061-7 |
| Publication Date: | Nov 2008 |
| Publisher: | Aperture Foundation, Incorporated
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| Book Format: | Hardback |
| List Price: | AUD $80.00 |
Book Description:
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Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf delivers a velvet-gloved emotional impact with his highly stylized mode of image making. His work offers a blend of mid-century modern and noir aesthetics seen through a contemporary, fashion-inflected lens. The ambience of the series presented in this volume-the first time these three bodies of work have been presented as a whole-is truly enigmatic and enticing. Olaf seduces the viewer via a mannered, restrained palette that is replete with faded avocado...
More DescriptionDutch photographer Erwin Olaf delivers a velvet-gloved emotional impact with his highly stylized mode of image making. His work offers a blend of mid-century modern and noir aesthetics seen through a contemporary, fashion-inflected lens. The ambience of the series presented in this volume-the first time these three bodies of work have been presented as a whole-is truly enigmatic and enticing. Olaf seduces the viewer via a mannered, restrained palette that is replete with faded avocado greens, golden-hued oranges, and subtle lilacs. Each richly colored and sleekly composed image offers a sly reinterpretation of Norman Rockwell-like iconography and characters, manifesting a nostalgia that both burlesques and wryly celebrates America of the 1950s and '60s. As a whole, the material investigates what critic Jonathan Turner defines as "Olaf's recent fascination with the visual representation of such emotions of loss, loneliness, and quiet despair. . . . [He] plays games with the idea of cold reality versus cruel artifice, capturing that precise moment when innocence, hope, and joy are lost."