Erwin Olaf Talk and Book Signing 10/21@ Aperture Foundation

Erwin Olaf, from Erwin Olaf (Aperture, September 2008)
Book Cover

Erwin Olaf, from Erwin Olaf (Aperture, September 2008)
The Boxing School, 2005 (Hope)

















Erwin Olaf, from Erwin Olaf (Aperture, September 2008)
The Hairdresser’s, 2004 (Rain)


















Erwin Olaf, from Erwin Olaf (Aperture, September 2008)
Caroline (Portrait), 2007, (Grief)

Artmostfierce will be asking a few questions to Erwin Olaf during the Lucie Awards Press Luncheon October 19,2008. More to come!

ERWIN OLAF
TALK & BOOK SIGNING

On the occasion of the publication of his self-titled Aperture monograph, we are pleased to announce a talk and book signing with Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf on Tuesday, October 21. A key European figure in both fashion and fine art photography, Olaf will discuss the work from his highly anticipated new book, bringing together for the first time three of the artist’s series—Rain, Hope, and Grief. Included is a first comprehensive look at his film work, through stills and an accompanying DVD that offers an overview of five of his movies, each related to the series featured in the book.

In each series, Olaf creates his own enigmatic and enticing worlds, blending together a Norman Rockwell-style kitsch, a film noir intensity, and a strangeness reminiscent of the films of American filmmaker David Lynch. The work wryly celebrates America of the 1950s and 1960s with stereotypical characters, including cheerleaders, a boy scout, a housewife, a young couple, and a sailor. He explores issues of beauty, loneliness, and despair, expressed in an individual style that combines fashion, cinema, history and advertising.

The first major U.S. exhibition of Olaf’s work recently opened at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, presenting the series from the book contextualized with previous work. The exhibit will remain on view until January 4, 2009. Olaf’s work is also featured in another important exhibition at the Hague Museum of Photography (Fotomuseum Den Haag) in Holland. Erwin Olaf will be honored at the 2008 Lucie Awards for his achievement in advertising on Monday, October 20.

Erwin Olaf (born in Hilversum, the Netherlands, 1959) graduated from the Utrecht School for Journalism, in 1980, with a degree in newspaper journalism and photojournalism. Olaf has earned several Silver Lions for his commercial work, which is increasingly sought after by magazines such as the New York Times Magazine and London Sunday Times. He is represented by Hasted Hunt, New York, and Flatland Gallery, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

WHEN AND WHERE:

Talk and Book Signing:
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
6:30 p.m.

Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street, 4th floor
(between 10th and 11th Avenue)
New York, NY
(212) 505-5555
www.aperture.org

Subway: C, E to 23rd Street and 8th Avenue or 1 to 28th Street and 7th Avenue


FREE


Media contact: Yseult Chehata, Aperture Foundation, (212) 946-7108; ychehata@aperture.org