Olaf Martens

Olaf Martens at Galerie für Fotografie - f5,6 - München. "...The theme of the outside and the outsider has been a recurring theme in Martens work from the very beginning. His images are most often taken in broken factories, the outskirts of cities, in cities like Russia, Czechoslovakia, Turkey and East Germany. The outsider roles recurring in Martens' world, in a sense similar to David Lynch's imagery, are cleaning women, dwarfs, seamstresses, overly fat women, strippers, dancers, transvestites etc. They inhabit and take the opposite end of the spectrum, as Martens ironically combines them with, at first glance, seemingly flawless models. Yet, the model appears in latex, gas masks, workers' outfits and high heels, adding another hybrid layer to his work."