Olaf shows me his portfolio in his studio which he shares with Martin Haake

Olaf's brushes and painting table which looks out onto a quiet street in central Berlin

Olaf's paints

My favorite Olaf illustration Marie Antoinette

Ok this is my favorite too. Black Antoniette. Love love the texture.

SZ_Duft

Flowerhead

Naturamorte

One of over 20 book covers which Olaf illustrated for a Taschen's Travel series.
This one is out in stores now.
Contains lots of dreamy photos of Hotels in New York! sigh.

I've been writing my profile piece on Olaf Hajek this week so I have him on my brain again.
Above are a few more pictures from my studio visit with him in July plus some of my favorite Olaf illustrations. The 2 Antoinette pieces are my absolute favorites. Olaf explains in the interview that he loves exaggeration so Marie Antoniette is ideal subject matter for him. Her over the top hairstyle gives him the opportunity to play with pattern and collage and insert all sorts of impossible things like birds + fruit+ insects into the painting.

One of my favorite things that Olaf said in the interview is that he loves his Dutch Gazelle bicycle. He said it feels to him like his Rolls Royce! For the rest of the interview check out the October issue of uppercase magazine.