Erwin Olaf - Volume II - 2014

Erwin Olaf ’s approach to storytelling is uniquely evocative and enticingly ambiguous. According to critic Francis Hodgson, Olaf ’s images “lead us to a ‘Stimmung’ (a sense of atmosphere) which is broad enough to repay many second readings of the pictures and so keep us viewers interested.” In this presentation of his most recent work, Olaf expands on his established style of highly polished, and stylized color studio images to include a series drawn from his sculptural video installation, Keyholes; a group of black-and-white images he has exhibited as carbon prints; and photographs created on location in Berlin—a departure from the constructed mise-en-sc è ne of earlier work produced in his Amsterdam studio. Erwin Olaf: Volume II showcases the artist at the height of his powers, as an artisan of atmosphere and a craftsman who uses high polish to both perverse and seductive effect.

Erwin Olaf Springveld (2 July 1959 – 20 September 2023), professionally known as Erwin Olaf, was a Dutch photographer from Hilversum. Time magazine described his work as straddling "the worlds of commercial, art and fashion photography at once".
Olaf died on 20 September 2023, at the age of 64, as a result of long-term emphysema weeks after receiving a lung transplant.