Artist Spotlight: Erwin Olaf

If you are a lover of interesting photography, you have most likely been seeing Erwin Olaf's images for a few decades now. His lively combination of photojournalism and meticulous studio setups has had success in museums and galleries, and he has created advertising campaigns for luxury brands. His work is by turns haunting, confrontational, controversial, and saturated in atmosphere.

Many of Olaf's works test boundaries of appropriateness and verge on pornographic. Here he intersects with contemporary Robert Mapplethorpe, especially in Olaf's Composition of Two Women, 1985, from the series "Squares," seen further into this portfolio. But Olaf jests with the viewer in a relaxed way that Mapplethorpe would not have, yet he has made an iconic image that lasts in the viewer's memory.

Leading this portfolio is the very familiar photo of a young man with his exploding champagne bottle -- one of the most appropriated images ever in gay media (and that was before the Internet). So let us now give credit where credit is due.

Erwin Olaf (born in Hilversum, the Netherlands, 1959) is a Dutch photographer known for his highly stylized, daring, and often provocative work addressing social issues and taboos. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Johannes Vermeer Award (2011), a Lucie Award (2008), and Photographer of the Year in the International Color Awards (2006). Olaf also received a commission to design the new national side of the Dutch Euro, launched in 2013.

Erwin Olaf's website.

Black-and-white photos from the exhibition "Erwin Olaf B&W. Early Works" at Espacio Minimo Gallery, Madrid, running until January 17.

Color photos from the book Erwin Olaf: Volume II (Aperture, 2014)

Joy, 1985
See more of Olaf's images on the following pages>>>