Artists

Olaf Hajek

Press release

Esther Schipper is delighted to announce The Dandy’s Garden, a solo exhibition by illustrator, artist and author Olaf Hajek. This is Hajek’s first exhibition with the gallery. On view will be all new paintings and a selection of drawings.

Olaf Hajek is known for his imaginative and poetic illustrations which draw on a colorful pictorial world full of fantastic flora and fauna, objects and figures that engages with themes of mythology, spirituality, folklore, archaic symbolism and pop culture. Hajek’s graphic work has been featured in the New York Times, The New Yorker, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Audubon, Stern, FAZ Magazin, and Cicero, among others.

At Esther Schipper Paris, Olaf Hajek presents a group of new paintings conceived as a story about contemporary life symbolized by the figure of the Dandy. The paintings frame the artifice and elegance, superficiality and hedonism associated with the figure—especially in 19th century commentaries on the social phenomenon in Britain and in France—within Hajek's distinct iconography: the Dandy becomes associated with a flower, its brilliant colors and extravagant forms expressions of exuberance and the search for pleasure. At the same time, there is neither only one Dandy nor a clearly gendered one but each painting features multiple figures that can be considered representations of different aspects of the character. We follow his figures in different scenarios, entering for example a garden full of seduction that, with lush imagery and bright colors, promises an edenic fecundity. The protagonist are depicted engaged in leisurely communal activities, while overflowing fountains allude to water as life-sustaining mythical force.