Erwin Olaf's Ruinart Commission: Graffiti as Art in Reims Caves

Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf, known for vintage-style staged scenes blending eros and thanatos, presented a surprising series at the Ruinart VIP lounge during miart in Milan. Instead of his signature narrative tableaux, Olaf captured black-and-white photographs of centuries-old graffiti, cracks, and natural traces on the walls of Ruinart's chalk cellars in Reims. The series, inspired by Brassaï's 1940s Paris graffiti photographs and echoing artists from Rothko to Damien Hirst, strips away human figures to focus on anonymous marks left by workers and nature. Olaf described the walls as a journey through contemporary art history, comparing bottle bottoms to Zero Group works and circular holes to Hirst's Spot Paintings. The project, commissioned by Ruinart, marks a departure from Olaf's usual style; he initially feared it would be kitsch but found an independent vision by exploring the cellars alone. The exhibition will travel to thirty art fairs worldwide in 2016, including Art Basel and Paris Photo. Olaf also discussed his philosophy of maintaining artistic independence by funding personal projects with one-third of his commercial income, and his upcoming first sculpture, a wooden statue produced in South Tyrol to be exhibited in Berlin as a political statement. He continues to explore multimedia environments combining photography, video, sculpture, light, and sound.