Coral's Art History Blog: Olaf Hajek #7

Every artist has someone or something that inspires them and gets their creative mind flowing. I personally have an artist who I love and am inspired by every time I see his work, his name is Olaf Hajek. Olaf Hajek is a German illustrator who was born in Germany and is currently living in Berlin. He loved drawing at a young age but his parents didn’t support him studying art in school so he studied graphic design. The understanding of both graphic design and drawing I think really developed him become a great illustrator, because in order to be an illustrator you have to have the ability to represent the company or client you are doing commission for in a visual way by using your own artistic imagination.

Even though Olaf Hajek studied graphic design he does not use the computer, instead he uses acrylic paint, a brush and draws by hand on either cardboard or wood. He has a unique style that is very colorful and it almost transports you to this beautiful dream world. He gets his inspiration from whatever beauty he observes when he travels around the world, but he gets most of his inspiration from African art, Latin American art and, Folk art. From looking at different artwork from Latin America and Africa I noticed that both art traditions seem to involve being in nature and with animals. Almost every painting of Olaf Hajek’s seem to take place in nature or at least there is a flower or animal pieced in somewhere. The other style of art that he is inspired by is Swedish traditional folk art also known as kurbits. Kurbits is the name of a type of plant that has these simple but colorful flowers and leaves; this invented flower pattern is what makes up the style. This type of decorative art was very popular in Sweden during late 1790s to late 1850s. The hand painted pattern was popularly used to decorate chests, chairs, plates, and wooden horses. He seemed to make his own kurbits flower patters to decorate the subject of his paintings, which has a similar look or layout that Swedish folk art does. Olaf says that he loves the idea of simplicity and how easily it can illustrate beauty.

I definitely can see the combination of all these different art traditions taking place in his work. The way he includes the styles or traditions that inspire him form a wide variety of places he has traveled makes his work almost becomes internationally appealing. It’s a combination that you most likely wouldn’t naturally pair together but that’s why it is so beautiful and that’s what makes Olaf Hajek’s art so unique.