olek
BROOKLYN,NY
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Olek is a current artist-in-residence at the AAI Lower East Side Rotating Studio Program
More information here @ http://www.aai-nyc.org/
Conversation with Olek
Audio interview by David, Recorded: Saturday, December 26, 2009, at AAI-RES Rotating Studio Residency in NYC.
Past Events
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.
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)
c.v.. ph.718.609.0334 .
olek@agataolek.com .
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