Mature

By creative Agent Erwin Olaf (NL)

Erwin Olaf is a commercial photographer who assesses the many forms of advertising and substantiates the way he feels about societies need to illuminate the “perfect image”. His commercial photography pushes the boundaries in promiscuous ways where the advertising world find ironic with satirical messages usually concerning themselves. Olaf puts a division with his own personal and artistic photographs, taking the viewer on an emotional roller coaster while his advertising represents ambiguity and evocative presumptions of the world. He tends to find “beauty” in the most unconventional ways and this can be seen in many of his photographs as he questions, “What is beauty?”

His methods, which equate his understanding of beauty and the perfect picture, come from his continuous work for the advertising industry. “He continually inverts the usual concept of what is ugly, what is wrong. He confounds anyone who equates beauty with purity” (Silver) In the perspective of a man who sees the conventional “beauty” everyday Olaf tends to think outside the box and his attitudes towards societies narrow mindedness about crucial topics, such as these makes him irritated. It was clear to see in Mature that even in old age there are different forms of beauty, which people are genuinely attracted to. The message he tries to convey is that beauty does not always have to look perfect rather it can be found in other ways.

“Is it internal or external?” The women are in focus to suggest how humanity can change their views on beauty instead of being focused with the traditional beauty that we see everyday in magazines and billboards.