© Edwynn Houk Gallery
" What I want to show most of all is a perfect world with a crack in it. I want to make the picture seductive enough to draw people into the narrative, and then deal the blow. "
Erwin Olaf is a Dutch photographer known for his stylized portraits. In his photographic work, Olaf often exploits the conventions of fashion photography which he uses in complex compositions and laconic portraits. The extreme sophistication of his descriptions and the precision of all visual elements give his photographs an apparent serenity. This conceals a sub-text evoking deeply human and social questions: the decline of the West, societal taboos, gender politics, queer issues ... and a recurring question: what is normality?