A provocative commercial photographer and introspective fine artist for the past 20 years, Erwin Olaf has captured the public's imagination — in major magazines with his ads and editorials, and in international galleries and museums with his photographs and films. In his fine-art work, the Netherlands-born photographer and filmmaker constructs psychological scenarios to be played out by models and actors that appear trapped in these fictional settings. This elegantly designed monograph offers photographs from three recent series — Rain, Hope, and Grief — plus a DVD of excerpts from five films. The '50s-era sets and costumes used in the Rain series call to mind the American stereotypes illustrated by Norman Rockwell, but tinged with the somber paintings of Edward Hopper. Grief reflects the following decade; the sorrow expressed by the actors in the photographs and film was motivated by news reports of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Meanwhile, the film-and-photo installation Le Dernier Cri (The Latest Fashion) projects the viewer into the future, where the actors wear facial prosthetics and exaggerated hairstyles that look like something out of the The Twilight Zone.

Aperture exhibits Olaf's work at Paris Photo, and he joins other Aperture photographers for a book signing at Colette on November 14. His work is also on view in solo shows at Hamiltons in London, through November 22, and at the Hague Museum of Photography in the Netherlands, through January 18.