Erwin Olaf - Paradise

Erwin Olaf is a Dutch photographer born in 1959.


Olaf lives in Amsterdam since 1980, his work got praised in 1988 with the "Chessmen" series, showing naked bodies (obese or pregnant women, young and vivid young men) enbodying the different pawns of a dusty chess game.


Through his work, the artist explores different themes like gender, sensuality, humor, despair and grace...


"Paradise", that I chose to represent here, is a series of photographs from 2001 focusing on a dark and baroque world inhabited by obscure clowns that express both happiness and sadness.


Erwin Olaf also got some attention in 1999 with the flamboyant and provocative visuals of a Diesel campaign that won the Lion d'Argent in Cannes. We also remember his beautiful white and red creations for Lavazza.


Olaf twork on video too, he directed some more or less disturbing shorts in the 2000s.


To close the series, the artist presented a series of portraits of the characters of the scenes. Important: click on the images to enlarge them, they're quite big, enabling you to observe the details of those peculiar faces.


Erwin Olaf's website: click here!