MACHAS

Jäger und Sammler: Olaf Hajek new solo exhibition

There’s a delicate line between fine and commercial art — and Olaf Hajek knows all about delicate lines. His meticulously detailed brushstrokes and multi-layered aesthetic allow him to be a masterful illustrator and a potent fine artist. And Olaf’s latest solo show at the Anna Jill Lüpertz Gallery in Munich opening on the 3rd of November takes his work to new heights.

The exhibition’s ‘Jäger und Sammler’, featuring in full the ‘hunter-gatherer’ series of paintings, is layered with themes of concealing and revelation. “I was playing with the idea of masks and identities and the relationships of humans with nature” explains Olaf.  Measuring around 100 centimetres wide and 150 centimetres tall, the surreal twelve new narratives tell arcane stories of compelling firewatchers, ancient forests and cryptic folklores.

“I was taking the South German old Mardi Gras aesthetics as an inspiration” Olaf continues. Although the figurative compositions reference a classical look and feel, their bewitching vigour allows parallel lands to co-exist with the viewer, evoking an omniscient presence. Intricate details invite a closer look before morphing into uncanny, familiar symbols. Colours burst out from the ornate scenes before fading into dissolved background textures. It is as though Olaf conjures the arresting immediacy of vibrant memories before enchanting viewers into the painting’s elusive world of ambiguous dreams, desires and the subconscious.

Olaf’s paintings, as well as his book cover designs, editorial and advertising works, take inspiration from fascinating characters, exotic cosmos and spellbound dreams, often engaging the enigmatic depths of the human spirit and the mysticism of the imagination.

JÄGER UND SAMMLER – A SOLO SHOW BY OLAF HAJEK

03 NOVEMBER - 26 NOVEMBER 2016

Anna Jill Lüpertz Gallery München
Brienner Strasse 48
80333 München

See more of Olaf’s work here.