We were very fortunate to visit the studio of Olaf Hajek and Martin Haake whilst in Berlin. Olaf studied graphic design in Dusseldorf, Amsterdam and then settled in Berlin. His inspiration, amongst other things, comes from travelling to New York a few times a year, and also to Africa. 1960's Cuban poster art, South American imagery, Frida Kahlo, American Folk Art painting, and in particular, the American Folk Museum in New York could be counted amongst his influences on his work. A champion of the haptic sensibilities of actual paint, and paper and brushes, his work, which I think is beautiful, holds it's ground in the commercial market amongst all the digital art that is out there, and in effect, as he stated in conversation to us, "it is his brand", in a way. He discussed the pro's and con's with us of how he works with art directors in the industry, in that, his work cannot be easily changed, as is the case with digital work, so this is something to be understood when working with him. His lovely work is in high demand across the board of the art industry, extending from book covers for Taschen, to exhibiting in fine art galleries across the world.
Martin Haake was kind enough to show us his general working process, where he starts with drawings and paints, and cutting out and sticking, collage etc. building up his images digitally from his extensive image library of hand drawn and found imagery.
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