Biography
Olek, whose real name is Agata Oleksiak, is a Polish artist born on April 5, 1978, in Ruda Śląska. She is renowned for her daring crochet installations, encompassing sculptures, performances, and urban artworks. She graduated in cultural studies from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań in 2000 and then moved to New York, where she incorporated crochet into her art in 2003.
Olek's work has been exhibited in galleries, museums, and public spaces worldwide and featured in numerous publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, Newsweek/Daily Beast, Village Voice, Artinfo, PBS, CNN, CBS, ABC, and NBC.
Olek explores themes such as sexuality, feminist ideals, and the evolution of communication through her work. She has participated in numerous international exhibitions and festivals, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery in 2012-2013, where she was selected for the exhibition "40 under 40: Craft Futures."
Olek is the recipient of the 2004 Ruth Mellon Prize for Sculpture, the 2011 In Situ Artaq Prize (France), and a 2011 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) Fellowship for Performance in Public Space. Olek's residencies include Sculpture Space in 2005, Instituto Sacatar (Brazil) in 2009, and AAI-LES in 2010. In 2008, Olek won the Apex Art Competition, broadcast on PBS.
In 2010, the artist was commissioned by the Brooklyn Museum of Art for a one-day interactive performance-installation. In 2012, Olek participated in the Smithsonian's 40 Under 40: Craft Futures exhibition, which featured her entire crochet studio.
Olek bases her practice on covering people and objects in cozy crocheted blankets; as the artist says, "my madness becomes crochet." She has used her art to recreate popular images and well-known artworks in the form of installations and performances, including works by Banksy and Annie Leibovitz's 1986 portrait of Keith Haring.
Olek often includes text in her works, such as medical reports, text messages, and provocative quotes from Marilyn Monroe and Madonna. Olek's work is commonly spotted around New York City, where she has covered cars, chained bicycles, the Bernard Rosenthal statue, and the Charging Bull statue on Wall Street. While her signature crochet motif is a fluorescent camouflage pattern, her works have recently tended toward grayscale. Olek also wears her own crochet creations.
Nationality