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‘Elegance And Perversity’ Not For The Faint Hearted

Some visitors to the Latrobe Regional Gallery will find the forthcoming exhibition ‘Erwin Olaf: Elegance and Perversity’ confronting, and some people may even find particular pieces of the exhibited work offensive

By Latrobe City Council - 19th April 2007 - Back to News

Latrobe City has warned.

‘Erwin Olaf: Elegance and Perversity’, an exhibition curated from a photographic series undertaken between 1999 and 2005 by Dutch artist Erwin Olaf, opens at the Latrobe Regional Gallery on Friday 27 April at 6pm.

Gallery director, Jacqui Hemsley, said that Olaf is an exuberant and imaginative photographer and film maker, who has carved a career from staging his own realities and pushing humorously at the accepted values of our consumer society.

"Vibrant, controversial and baroque, series like ‘Mature’, ‘Royal Blood’, ‘Fashion Victims’ and ‘Paradise the Club’, as well as the recent and more introspective ‘Separation’ and ‘Rain’ have become portraits of an era.

"Olaf's photographic subjects run the gamut of extremes from the publicly scrutinised celebrity to the isolated family unit," Ms Hemsley explained.

"In this current exhibition we encounter aged supermodels, slain monarchs, fetishised and commercially branded bodies, depraved violators and voyeurs, a loving if bizarre mother and son and a quietly crumbling family waiting for dinner. It is both controversial and confronting," Ms Hemsley added.

Ms Hemsley said that to mark the opening of the exhibition, a gala extravaganza will be held on Friday 27 April at 6.30pm.

"Organised by the Gallery’s 2007 Young Ambassadors, the night will feature fire twirlers, a heavy metal rock band, soundscapes and more. Entry is by donation with $400 worth of bizarre and unique door prizes offered. This is an event not to be missed," Ms Hemsley said.

"Exhibitions featuring at art galleries over the course of years present genre that express the arts in many different ways to different people. ‘Erwin Olaf: Elegance and Perversity’ will push the boundaries for some people and challenge perceptions. In acknowledging that this exhibition will not suit everyone’s taste and that some imagery may offend, this exhibition has a restricted access to those aged 15 years and older.

"If people feel ‘Erwin Olaf: Elegance and Perversity’ is not for them, there are other exhibitions featuring at the gallery at the same time that they can enjoy, and we ask them to simply bypass Gallery-One when they visit over the next few weeks," Ms Hemsley added.

‘Erwin Olaf: Elegance and Perversity’ is an Australian Centre for photography touring exhibition and will run until Sunday 10 June.

The Latrobe Regional Gallery is open 7 days, Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm, Saturday and Sunday 11am to 4pm. Admission is free.

For more information, contact the gallery on 5128 5700, fax 5128 5706 or email lrg@latrobe.vic.gov.au.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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