London: Erwin Olaf –Berlin

This Wednesday, March 6th 2013, London’s Hamiltons Gallery will open its doors to an exhibition of Erwin Olaf‘s most recent series ‘Berlin’. This project marks a clear break from his previous practice – previously, the artist had in most cases built sets in his studio and created his photographs there. The series ‘Berlin’, however, has been created entirely on location in six different historical locations of the grand city Berlin. Erwin Olaf was born in 1959 in Hilversum, the Netherlands, and went to the Utrecht School of Journalism in 1980. He lives and works in Amsterdam and is probably most famous for his commercial and personal work. With the ‘Berlin’ series, which consists of composed, cinematic scenes and portraits, Erwin Olaf demonstrate once again that he is capable breaking the boundaries of contemporary photographic practice. These photographs, shot in locations such as the Clarchens Ballhaus Mitte or the Rathaus Schoneberg for example, are at once historical and contemporary by alluding to a painful past . Olaf explains: ‘I am captivated by the art and culture of Berlin, both now and form the 1920s and ‘30s when the city anticipated the coming disaster’ – an inspiration which is clearly visible in the work. ‘Berlin’ was partly funded by the proceeds of his 2011 Johannes Vermeer Prize, which he received for his practice , including not only staged art photography but also video art, short documentaries, commercial photography and children’s films. Francis Hodgson, in his essay exploring ‘Berlin’, comments: ‘You could see Berlin as an opera. There are the grand elements from history, which are like the bits of legend or myth or biblical story that make up the plots of operas. Here are some of them: The Neue Sachlichkeit (the New Objectivity, an art-history label for the harsh realism of painters such as Otto Dix or Christian Schad). Here is the building where John Kennedy called himself a Berliner (“lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today, to the hopes of tomorrow, beyond the freedom merely of this city of Berlin, or your country of Germany, to the advance of freedom everywhere..”). Here is a broad reminder of the great Jesse Owens, carrying off the plaudits at Hitler’s own Olympiad, and making a mockery of the Chancellor’s racism in doing so. Here is the peculiar sub-culture of the duelling clubs, there’s a kid who looks uncomfortably like an enthusiastic recruit of the Hitler Youth, with his slicked hair and his black leather gloves. These are concrete references but not deployed to be specific. Olaf uses them to take us through a range of moods, exactly as opera does. We don’t need an exact narrative because so many of the historical references are so clear. Instead we get a set of pictures just imbued with Berlin.’ Anna-Maria Pfab ‘Berlin’ by Erwin Olaf Will be on display until 10 May 2013. Hamiltons Gallery 13 Carlos Place London W1K 2EU UK Also in United States : ‘Berlin’ by Erwin Olaf From March 14th to April 27th, 2013 Hasted Kraeutler 537 W 24th St New York, NY 10011 USA +1 212-627-0006