Hamiltons presents Erwin Olaf’s most recently completed and newest body of work, Skin Deep. Olaf has created this “pure and less constructed” series over the course of 2015 as a “tribute to the human body, to celebrate its uniqueness”. This series’ inaugural exhibition at Hamiltons marks Olaf’s long-term collaboration with, and representation by, gallery owner Tim Jefferies.
Olaf’s art implicitly visualises the unspoken and the overlooked. By addressing social issues and taboos within the framework of a highly stylised mode of imagery, his work provides us with uncertain, shifting narratives, which defy singular interpretation. In his own unique style and approach, Olaf vividly captures the essence of contemporary life and its inherent contradictions.
Skin Deep is simultaneously a departure from, and a return to, his early work confronting the nature of the human body. He revisits a familiar space and subject omnipresent at the beginning of his career, but then moves towards a purer, more essential connection with the body and skin: a transcendent approach that he felt could only occur with the passage of time, as a result of insights borne of decades of maturation.
This series features models of different backgrounds, race, sex and personality, chosen by Olaf for their confidence and relaxed attitude towards their bodies; he set them against the backdrop of an 18th century mansion in Holland. Olaf photographed the mansion walls in their original state just a day before they were to be restored; he then reprinted the walls in his studio, to become the environment for his models. In the 1980’s Olaf made a short film at this same mansion; the juxtaposition of real and historical ‘in situ’ location, versus the contemporary and artificial nature of the photographer’s studio, is an essential element of his reflection on his early work and self.
Erwin Olaf, Reclining Nude No. 2, from the Series 'Skin Deep'', 2015 © Erwin Olaf Foudation
