Olaf Hajek
Olaf Hajek is a German-based illustrator, painter, artist, graphic designer, and author.
Born in North Germany, Hajek lives in Germany, London, and New York City. Originally studying to be a graphic designer, Olaf switched to illustration and taught alongside the likes of punk fashion legend, Vivienne Westwood.
Hajek's illustrations have been featured in publications like ''The Financial Times, The New Yorker, Playboy, Rolling Stone, The [Wall Street Journal], The [New York Times], GQ, and Architectural Digest.''
Personal life
Olaf Hajek was born on 12 December 1965 in Rendsburg, Germany, along the Northern frontier to Denmark. Though he was born in Germany, he was raised in the Netherlands before attending art school. Hajek originally went to art school at Fachhochschule Düsseldorf to study graphic design, yet switched to illustration classes when he decided he did not want to spend his career in front of the computer. Spending his early professional years in Amsterdam, he took advantage of the social scene to gain connections as a freelance illustrator.Themes
Hajek's work shows strong influence from Frida Kahlo, Botticelli, and Cuban advertising posters from the 1960sTechnique
Hajek paints his illustrations, and his typical medium is acrylic on cardboard, paper, or wood. He works as a painter for all his illustrations. Hajek never works on a digital medium, and his works always retain their graphic feel, despite their painted appearance.Notable pieces
His pieces for fashion houses include YSL Maxim Fashion, Dior Maxim Fashion, Gucci Maxim Fashion, Helmut Lang Maxim Fashion, and Lacroix Haute Couture. He has also done portraits of figures including Chuck Berry, Kristian Schuller, Kurt Cobain, Fiona Miliner, and Claudia Skoda. He has also worked on advertising for United Airlines, the Coca-Cola factory in Copenhagen, an Apple educational ad, Ritz Carlton USA, Design Hotels, a Vodafone advertisement, Love Berlin, and the Olympics. He also does magazine work such as Lost Authors in Neon Magazine, Oveset Magazine Berlin, Rolling Stone, and Shoes for The New York Vertica Brochure. Some of his most gallery works include Underwater Ballet, Foret Noir, White Black, La Vie, the Nature Man series, Masked Girl, Iris, Voyage Voyage, and ''Corner 2 Frei.''Clients
As an illustrator, Hajek has been hired by many clients. He has done illustration work for many big clients including Apple, United Airlines, Macy’s, Bloomberg Inc, Bacardi, The Ritz Carlton, Nike, Daimler Chrysler, and Barney's.In 2011 Hajek was hired by 25hours Hotel, a German chain, to design the wallpaper for their hotel opening in Vienna.
Publications
Hajek has illustrated for many publications including The New Yorker, NZZ, SZ Magazin, Shape, Bolero, The New York Times, Gourmet, Paste, Time Magazine, Stern, Architectural Digest, The Wall Street Journal, IO Donna, MAN, Travel & Leisure, Forbes, Playboy, Business Week, Capital, The Financial Times, Food Illustrated, LA Times, and the Royal Mail.Hajek is also featured in many books, including American Illustration, Illustration Now, 200 Best Illustrators Worldwide: Lürzer's Archive Special, and Freistil 1& 2. Hajek has also illustrated the nature scene on the cover of The New York Times 2009 Book Review.