Press preview with Erwin Olaf

Sunday 17 February 2019, 13:31 by Michelle Peeters | 13,989 views | 1 comment

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Last Thursday, 14 February, I attended the press preview with Erwin Olaf in the Garden Room of the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. During the press conference, there was an opportunity to ask Erwin Olaf, director Benno Tempel and curator Wim van Sinderen questions.

Afterwards, the guests were given a preview of both the exhibition at the Gemeentemuseum and the exhibition at the Fotomuseum.

What I most want to show is a perfect world with a crack in it. I want to make the image tempting enough to draw people into my stories, and then deliver a blow.
- Erwin Olaf

White walls

The museum walls were painted white at Erwin Olaf's request. That works well, the visual impact comes from the work itself, not from the colour of the walls. The exhibition has been given a rather subdued atmosphere, which can tone down the rich stories a little.

You can still clearly see that Erwin Olaf was once a photojournalist. The photographs are strict, but still enjoyable. There are many black-and-white photographs in the selection. Only one or two prints exist of some of them.

Wim van Sinderen encouraged Erwin to take up colour photography when a photograph had to be made for a magazine cover. The work became more commercial in content. He worked with Wim in a very inspiring way. One wall is coloured in Maya powder-box colours. Van Sinderen also made all the decisions regarding the 1970s and 1990s prints.

What is normal?

The theme 'What is normal?' still occupies Erwin Olaf. He loves 'night butterflies' and people who deviate from the norm. He also brought many of them into his studio.

He also worked extensively with choreographer Hans van Manen, using photography as a starting point and drawing inspiration from what works outdoors. There are hardly any 'real' photographs left outside, as everything has become billboards.

Shirley den Hartog helped him move further into visual art. Hanneke Mantel, a junior curator at the Fotomuseum Den Haag, only 23 years old, also helped him greatly in putting this exhibition together.

It was only after 2004 that Erwin really felt comfortable in his own skin. From that point onwards, he could fully stand behind his own work. Before that, it always felt as though he was looking at the work of a nephew. He still remembers exactly what his first camera was, a Nikon FM2.

Choreography of the human body

About his series 'Grief', he says the following: it is about the choreography of the human body. When you see drooping shoulders, they already radiate sadness and shame arises. There are also connections with themes from classical art, such as a turned-away face.

As people, we can 'read' one another, and that is the starting point. Erwin always sketches everything out beforehand. Only then does the undercurrent emerge, adding an extra layer that creates a critical story. So in fact, there is still that connection with photojournalism.

Inspiring photographers: Bernard Faucon: Les amis, Man Ray: Noire et blance, Helmut Newton: Saddle, Rineke Dijkstra: self-portrait

Royal family

About how the collaboration with the Royal Family went, he says the following: it was actually rather like a doctor's surgery with professional confidentiality. He took photographs of the Royal Family for two cabinets. The first cabinet consists of formal portraits, simply photographing them as beautifully as possible, exactly as it should be.

For the second cabinet, he was given complete freedom. The combination of the two is fun. He later discussed with William Rutte whether he was allowed to, or should, Photoshop them.

Bucket list

When asked which photograph he would still like to make, the answer is that he has actually done everything already. He is extremely satisfied, he has made it, and there is nothing left that he 'should' do.

At most, he would still like to direct an opera one day. He is only afraid of dropping dead, because of his pulmonary emphysema. He will never stop, but will carry on wheezing and gasping until the end.

Double exhibition

During the major double exhibition of Erwin Olaf at Gemeentemuseum Den Haag and Fotomuseum Den Haag, 16 February to 12 May 2019, brand-new work will be shown that Erwin Olaf made in Palm Springs, USA, this autumn.

The Palm Springs photo series forms a triptych with the Berlin (2012) and Shanghai (2017) series. The three series will be shown at the Gemeentemuseum, the exhibition focusing on Olaf's personal work from 2000 onwards. Palm Springs will have its premiere here.

Palm Springs triptych

For this final series in the triptych, Erwin Olaf travelled to the United States, to the city of Palm Springs in California. He was there for a masterclass and, despite everything, found inspiration in this fascinating country.

There is a good mix there in terms of sexuality, culture and so on. He spent several weeks there in autumn 2018, while the plans for the layout of the double exhibition were already nearly finalised.

Erwin Olaf: Before the trip, I had already been working on the concept for a long time, but of course you never know whether it will turn out as you imagine. The vibe there felt right, but when I returned and looked at the first results in my studio, I knew for certain: the triptych is complete.

I showed it to curator Wim van Sinderen straight away. We agreed: this work must have a place in the double exhibition.

Berlin, Shanghai and Palm Springs form a triptych about cities in transition. The Berlin series was made in 2012, at a time when dark clouds were gathering over Europe. The series focuses on Olaf's concerns about freedom of speech and democracy, and on the transfer of power from the older generation to a new generation.

Shanghai is a hypermodern metropolis with 24 million inhabitants in China. In his series about this city, Olaf examines what happens to an individual in such an environment.

In Palm Springs, Olaf also focuses on current affairs, with climate change as one of the important themes of the series, but at the same time, memories of 1960s America impose themselves on the images.

In a beautiful series of portraits, landscapes, the first time Olaf has photographed landscapes, still lifes and cinematic scenes, he refers to themes such as teenage pregnancies, discrimination, religious misconduct and polarisation.

With this series, Erwin Olaf tells the story of people retreating into gated communities while reality penetrates the paradise we so desperately want to preserve.

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