c.v.. ph.718.609.0334 . olek@agataolek.com
Subscribe to Olek's newsletter

Olek is selected for 2010/11 LMCC Workspace residency, NYC

Upcoming shows

KNITTING IS FOR PUS****

Mixed media sculptural environment on the ground floor, and the work in collaboration with other artists on the first floor. Septemebr 9th - October 17th, 2010 - Christopher Henry Gallery, 127 Elizabeth Street

Bite: Street - Inspired Art and Fashion, Third Streaming

September 8th - November 25th, 2010

La Grande Bouffe

Olek's action documented by Nicholas Pezzarossi for Sehnsucht Live TV

Olek-hooked on art! , Laura Hollick talks to Olek, recorded February 23rd, 2010

To listen, please click here

Conversation with Olek

Audio interview by David, Recorded: Saturday, December 26, 2009, at AAI-RES Rotating Studio Residency in NYC.

Selected past events:

Painting to shake hands for Glow II, Berlin, Germany

April 29th, 30th, May 1st, 2010

Painting to Shake Hands for Low Lives II, curated by Jorge Rojas - a one-night exhibition of performance-based works transmitted via the internet and projected in real time at numerous venues throughout the U.S.

see more @ http://www.ustream.tv/channel/olek-s-crocheted-painting

Crocheted Windows

ABC No Rio's Ides of March
The Seventh Biennial Building-Wide Exhibition
March 19 - April 9 2010
Opening, March 19th 7-9PM
156 Rivington Street (between Clinton & Suffolk)
More information here @ http://www.abcnorio.org/events/ides2010.html

November 7th, 2009

100% Acrylic 11.07.09 (after Jan van Eyck), Soho 20 Gallery, NYC

I think crochet, the way I create it, is a metaphor for the complexity and interconnectedness of our body and its systems and psychology. The connections are stronger as one fabric as opposed to separate strands, but, if you cut one, the whole thing will fall apart.

Relationships are complex and greatly vary situation to situation. They are developmental journeys of growth, and transformation. Time passes, great distances are surpassed and the fabric which individuals are composed of compiles and unravels simultaneously.

100% Acrylic 11.07.09 (after van Eyck)
presents a journey. . .an unscripted path which two entities, encased by suits of crocheted armor, will travel through Chelsea. With each step taken, the armor will unravel - exposing a new layer to the entity; the history of this shed coat still connected, dragging behind.

I can't really speak to what will be revealed-to know that, you have to find the end of the loosened yarn and follow the performers - live individuals from Jan van Eyck's painting - to their final destination, Soho 20 Gallery.

October 28th, 2009

Just Bring Your Clothes,
chashama, NYC

view press release

10.24.09

Thank You for Your Visit, Have a Nice Day,
Art in Odd Places 2009:SIGN, NYC
an annual festival exploring the odd,
ordinary and ingenious in the spectacle of daily life.

short film by technology artist from mixed media sculptural environment
10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it


Bio

The SPLAT! of colors hits you in the face, often clashing so ostentatiously that it instantly tunes you into the presence of severely cheeky humor. A moment later the fatigue of labor creeps into your fingers as a coal miner's work ethic becomes apparent. Hundreds of miles of crocheted, weaved, and often recycled materials are the fabric from which the wild and occasionally wearable structures of her fantasylands are born.


Olek was born Agata Oleksiak in Poland and graduated from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland with a degree in cultural studies. In New York, she rediscovered her ability to crochet and since then she has started her crocheted journey/madness.


Resume sniffers may be pleased to know Olek's work has been presented in galleries from Brooklyn to Istanbul to Venice and Brazil, featured in "The New York Times", "Fiberarts Magazine", "The Village Voice", and "Washington Post" and drags a tail of dance performance sets and costumes too numerous to mention.


Olek received the Ruth Mellon Award for Sculpture, was selected for 2005 residency program at Sculpture Space, 2009 residency in Instituto Sacatar in Brazil, and is a winner of apex art gallery commercial competition. Olek was an artist in an independent collective exhibition, "Waterways," during the 49th Venice Biennale. She was also a featured artist in "Two Continents Beyond," at the 9th International Istanbul Biennale.


Olek herself however can be found in her Brooklyn studio with a bottle of spiced Polish vodka and a hand rolled cigarette aggressively re-weaving the world as she sees fit.
(photo by eirca nusser)