Olek
Encyclopedia
Olek is a Polish-born American-residing artist whose work includes sculpture, installation, inflatables, and fiber art
. Olek's installations have included crocheted bicycles, sculptures (including "Charging Bull
"), apartments, and people. An entire false apartment covered in crochet
ing, including its occupants, is her most known piece, featured in various international media outlets. The work generally includes members of the public or the media, crocheted directly into the suit, without traditional fasteners.
Olek has exhibited in the United States, Germany, Brazil, Turkey, France, Italy, Poland, and Costa Rica.
, Poland
, from 1997 to 2000. Attending LaGuardia College, she won the National Arts Club
's award for sculpture. Early work included sculptures, costumes, and inflatables.
The artist first used crocheting as part of her art in 2003, having rediscovered her ability in the United States. She "wowed critics" at the Williamsburg Arts and Historical Society Surrealist Fashion Show that year. By 2004, Oleksiak created "a large tentlike piece made of crocheted strips of cloth, hair, cassette tape and stuffed animals" work for a four-person show; running out of the window, The New York Times suggested this work gave the show at 5BE Gallery in Chelsea
"a tour-de-force center to work around." Her crocheted sculpture "Spill" (2005), featured in the Washington Post, included 1300 skinny white balloons cascading in an "intestinal shape". She participated in The Waterways, a "socially conscious" art project on a vaporetto
water bus during the 2005 Venice Biennale
, presenting "Camouflage", "exploring the androgyny of fixed identity, sexuality, and culture". In September and October of that year, Olek crocheted the windows of a burned-out, abandoned building near her artist residency in Utica, New York
. Her costumes for theatre and dance performances, created during this period, drew critical praise, although a dance performance relating to one of her sculptures was criticized.
. Olek based DUMBO
Arts Festival piece was "Painting to Shake Hands" on an "event score" in Yoko Ono
's Grapefruit
. Participants wore her wearable sculptures, with a hand through a stretched canvas, shaking the hands of passersby. A second performance is being dubbed "Crocheted Grapefruit". Performance piece "Thank You for Your Visit, Have a Nice Day", performed on Manhattan
's 14th Street
during the 2009 Art in Odd Places:SIGN, was inspired "by a uniformed attendant holding a "Hold the Handrail" sign in a Taipei metro station". Performers held placards based on signs found by the artist, that were "emphatic, ironic or amused dialogue with their location."
In 2009, she stated:
While some have drawn parallels between her artwork and yarn bombing
, she doesn't consider her works to be connected. she told the New York Times in 2011 that:
Her creative philosophy is that "Life and art are inseparable."
In 2009, she was a resident artist at Brazil's Instituto Sacatar.
Originally stitched in her Park Slope apartment, her apartment installation took "years" to prepare, she used an unknown amount of yarn skeins (primarily Red Heart
brand). Christopher Henry Gallery presented her first solo show, "Knitting is for Pus****". Originally to run from September 9 to October 17, 2010, a series of extensions lengthened it to May 2011. During that period, the gallery exhibited it in Miami, at the SCOPE Art Show. After the Christopher Henry Gallery show wrapped, she indicated she was looking to sell the work for $90,000.
In late December 2010, Olek installed a crocheted suit over "Charging Bull
" (1989), a statue on Wall Street
. Meant as a tribute to Arturo Di Modica
, who installed the sculpture without permission, a park caretaker tore off her addition, two hours later, far shorter than Di Modica's guerilla art.
She was the 2010-2011 Workspace artist-in-residence at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. She has created and performed at the Whitney Museum of American Art
, among other locations. In May 2011, she won at the 2nd Urban Arts Awards (Artaq), in the "Sculpture In Situ" category. She had a solo exhibition at Jonathan LeVine Gallery
, in August 2011. Teamed with director Gina Vecchione and producer Michelle Price, Olek was set to create a short silent film called YARNANA, through Kickstarter
-based fundraising. "Inspired by the silent film genre, it relies solely on powerful music, sound design and physical expression. The characters speak through modern dance, physical comedy, capoeira, martial arts, poi, belly dancing, breakdance, acrobatics, gymnastics and the instincts of soul searchers." The project was ultimately cancelled.
She is scheduled to exhibit at Renwick Gallery
, a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
, in the show 40 under 40: Craft Futures. Running from July 20, 2012 to February 3, 2013, Renwick is looking to tour the show afterwards.
Fiber art
Fiber art is a style of fine art which uses textiles such as fabric, yarn, and natural and synthetic fibers. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labour involved as part of its significance.-Fiber:...
. Olek's installations have included crocheted bicycles, sculptures (including "Charging Bull
Charging Bull
Charging Bull, which is sometimes referred to as the Wall Street Bull or the Bowling Green Bull, is a bronze sculpture by Arturo Di Modica that stands in Bowling Green Park near Wall Street in Manhattan, New York City...
"), apartments, and people. An entire false apartment covered in crochet
Crochet
Crochet is a process of creating fabric from yarn, thread, or other material strands using a crochet hook. The word is derived from the French word "crochet", meaning hook. Hooks can be made of materials such as metals, woods or plastic and are commercially manufactured as well as produced by...
ing, including its occupants, is her most known piece, featured in various international media outlets. The work generally includes members of the public or the media, crocheted directly into the suit, without traditional fasteners.
Olek has exhibited in the United States, Germany, Brazil, Turkey, France, Italy, Poland, and Costa Rica.
Early life and career
Oleksiak graduated with a degree in Cultural Studies from Adam Mickiewicz University, PoznańPoznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, from 1997 to 2000. Attending LaGuardia College, she won the National Arts Club
National Arts Club
The National Arts Club is a private club in Gramercy Park, New York City, New York, USA. It was founded in 1898 to "stimulate, foster, and promote public interest in the arts and to educate the American people in the fine arts". Since 1906 the organization has occupied the Samuel J...
's award for sculpture. Early work included sculptures, costumes, and inflatables.
The artist first used crocheting as part of her art in 2003, having rediscovered her ability in the United States. She "wowed critics" at the Williamsburg Arts and Historical Society Surrealist Fashion Show that year. By 2004, Oleksiak created "a large tentlike piece made of crocheted strips of cloth, hair, cassette tape and stuffed animals" work for a four-person show; running out of the window, The New York Times suggested this work gave the show at 5BE Gallery in Chelsea
Chelsea, Manhattan
Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The district's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, 30th Street to the north, the western boundary of the Ladies' Mile Historic District – which lies between the Avenue of the Americas and...
"a tour-de-force center to work around." Her crocheted sculpture "Spill" (2005), featured in the Washington Post, included 1300 skinny white balloons cascading in an "intestinal shape". She participated in The Waterways, a "socially conscious" art project on a vaporetto
Vaporetto
Vaporetto is a waterbus operation. It has a set of 19 scheduled lines that serves locales within Venice, Italy, and travels between Venice and nearby islands, e.g., Murano and Lido. The natives used to call the Vaporetto Batèo...
water bus during the 2005 Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
, presenting "Camouflage", "exploring the androgyny of fixed identity, sexuality, and culture". In September and October of that year, Olek crocheted the windows of a burned-out, abandoned building near her artist residency in Utica, New York
Utica, New York
Utica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....
. Her costumes for theatre and dance performances, created during this period, drew critical praise, although a dance performance relating to one of her sculptures was criticized.
Wearable sculptures and crocheted work
Olek's crocheted full body clothing, dubbed "wearable sculptures", has been used in various projects. Various times, Olek has taken her participants onto the New York City SubwayNew York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
. Olek based DUMBO
DUMBO, Brooklyn
Dumbo, an acronym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It encompasses two sections: one located between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, which connect Brooklyn to Manhattan across the East River, and another that continues...
Arts Festival piece was "Painting to Shake Hands" on an "event score" in Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
's Grapefruit
Grapefruit (book)
Grapefruit is an artist's book written by Yoko Ono, originally published in 1964. It has become famous as an early example of conceptual art, containing a series of "event scores" that replace the physical work of art – the traditional stock-in-trade of artists – with instructions that an...
. Participants wore her wearable sculptures, with a hand through a stretched canvas, shaking the hands of passersby. A second performance is being dubbed "Crocheted Grapefruit". Performance piece "Thank You for Your Visit, Have a Nice Day", performed on Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's 14th Street
14th Street (Manhattan)
14th Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The street rivals the size of some of the well-known avenues of the city and is an important business location....
during the 2009 Art in Odd Places:SIGN, was inspired "by a uniformed attendant holding a "Hold the Handrail" sign in a Taipei metro station". Performers held placards based on signs found by the artist, that were "emphatic, ironic or amused dialogue with their location."
In 2009, she stated:
While some have drawn parallels between her artwork and yarn bombing
Yarn bombing
Yarn bombing, yarnbombing, yarnstorming, guerrilla knitting, or graffiti knitting is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colorful displays of knitted or crocheted cloth rather than paint or chalk.-Method and motivation:...
, she doesn't consider her works to be connected. she told the New York Times in 2011 that:
Her creative philosophy is that "Life and art are inseparable."
In 2009, she was a resident artist at Brazil's Instituto Sacatar.
Originally stitched in her Park Slope apartment, her apartment installation took "years" to prepare, she used an unknown amount of yarn skeins (primarily Red Heart
Red Heart
Red Heart was a joint venture between the Seven Network and Granada PLC between c. 1999 and 2001. It brought together all of its Australian parents' TV production resources, except those used for Seven's news and soaps....
brand). Christopher Henry Gallery presented her first solo show, "Knitting is for Pus****". Originally to run from September 9 to October 17, 2010, a series of extensions lengthened it to May 2011. During that period, the gallery exhibited it in Miami, at the SCOPE Art Show. After the Christopher Henry Gallery show wrapped, she indicated she was looking to sell the work for $90,000.
In late December 2010, Olek installed a crocheted suit over "Charging Bull
Charging Bull
Charging Bull, which is sometimes referred to as the Wall Street Bull or the Bowling Green Bull, is a bronze sculpture by Arturo Di Modica that stands in Bowling Green Park near Wall Street in Manhattan, New York City...
" (1989), a statue on Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
. Meant as a tribute to Arturo Di Modica
Arturo Di Modica
Arturo Di Modica is an Italian-American artist, born in Vittoria, Sicily, best known for his sculpture Charging Bull , which he installed without permission in front of the New York Stock Exchange in December 1989. The work cost US$360,000 of the artist's own money...
, who installed the sculpture without permission, a park caretaker tore off her addition, two hours later, far shorter than Di Modica's guerilla art.
She was the 2010-2011 Workspace artist-in-residence at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. She has created and performed at the Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
, among other locations. In May 2011, she won at the 2nd Urban Arts Awards (Artaq), in the "Sculpture In Situ" category. She had a solo exhibition at Jonathan LeVine Gallery
Jonathan LeVine
Jonathan LeVine is a New York City art dealer. As of 2005, he owns and operates the Jonathan LeVine Gallery, in the Chelsea area of Manhattan...
, in August 2011. Teamed with director Gina Vecchione and producer Michelle Price, Olek was set to create a short silent film called YARNANA, through Kickstarter
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an online threshold pledge system for funding creative projects. Kickstarter has funded a diverse array of endeavors, ranging from indie film and music to journalism, solar energy technology and food-related projects.-Model:...
-based fundraising. "Inspired by the silent film genre, it relies solely on powerful music, sound design and physical expression. The characters speak through modern dance, physical comedy, capoeira, martial arts, poi, belly dancing, breakdance, acrobatics, gymnastics and the instincts of soul searchers." The project was ultimately cancelled.
She is scheduled to exhibit at Renwick Gallery
Renwick Gallery
The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, located in Washington, D.C., and focuses on American craft and decorative arts from the 19th century to the 21st century...
, a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C. with an extensive collection of American art.Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum has a broad variety of American art that covers all regions and art movements found in the United States...
, in the show 40 under 40: Craft Futures. Running from July 20, 2012 to February 3, 2013, Renwick is looking to tour the show afterwards.
External links
- Official Facebook fan page, Twitter, Vimeo