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, lunatics, and creatures that defy easy description.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing photographer, GREAT book. WORTH THE PRICE.,
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This review is from: Erwin Olaf: Silver (Hardcover)
ERWIN OLAF - SILVER (FIRST EDITION!!!!)
For those who haven't seen this book - it's a triumph for work that you've probably never seen. It is unfair to Erwin to compare him to any other working photographer -- I'd say he's more like a dark, fashionista Stanley Kubrick! Why? Because -- as you see from the book -- he is able to switch genre, subject, look, and content 180 degrees from the last series, and yet you know it's still Olaf but you can't tell why you know that... That's how Kubrick was - a genius - and the best geniuses don't leave tags, everything they make is a tag. Now, onto the work -- it's BOLD, of course (The cover image is princess Diana with a Mercedes logo embedded in her bloody arm -- which, incidentally, comes from one of my favorite series of all time... Dead historical figures, as Angels, in all white, with the method of their death a red splatter of blood/weapons/props in exactly the right place. Marie Antoinette is headless and holds her own head.) Back to the book. It's bold but it's beautiful, in a way that transcends any American fashion designed. Yes, people will (probably even the publishers) compare him to LaChapelle, but you can't. He's totally different. And darker. And more overtly sexual. LaChapelle will use sex as a prop for the bigger joke - the singular concept of the image. But Olaf doesn't have real 'camp' in him - he has intensity and honesty, even if he's lying about everything in the image and has used Photoshop to help make it. To me it feels like Erwin Olaf has incredible dreams and incredible nightmares, but to him they are the same. And he writes these elaborate stories down, calls in the crew, and he starts to shoot. Just my opinion, of course. You'll see some of his campaigns and personal series in SILVER: -Gorgeous and naked and fully erect oiled up models showing off a fashion brand by wearing the BAG from the store on their heads, blocking all features. Funny, dark, and the models look amazing. They really do sell the brand - and that's why he's so great. So much sex in it and yet it's all irony. -Royal Blood, the series with historical figures that were killed - he has a beautiful blond 12 year old boy wearing white shorts and a crown of leaves, crouched down, back to us, turning towards us with a 'come hither' kind of pose... and yet there is a long SWORD stabbed directly in the middle of his back, and blood washes down from the large wound. You look again at the boy's look, and now it means so much more. 'Did you do this to me?' 'This is how I died'...etc... The title? Of course... JULIUS CAESAR 44BC. I like LaChapelle but I've never been hit so hard by one of his images as this one. Buy this book - it's by FAR the most comprehensive look at Olaf's brilliant work. There are smaller books - all available in Europe but not so easily in the United States - and they chronicle his newer work, which is smarter and more beautiful, but also more still and less risky and risque! If you can get your hands on a FIRST EDITION -- TopChoicebooks.com has them right now - do it. Todd Berkan will make you a very happy buyer. Out of all 'fashion' photographers, this will be the one to own one Olaf breaks into America, breaking all the rules and all the windows on his way.
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