Habitat is a new weekly series that visits with artists in their workspaces.
This week’s studio: Olek; Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. “Crocheting is my only weapon,” Olek said as she lit up a hand-rolled cigarette in her studio. “I grew up in a place that was very stingy with possibilities and granted us no eccentricities. I felt like I had to yank up my skirt, expose my bruised knees and bolt the hell out of there.” Olek moved from Poland to New York twelve years ago, balancing a handful of odd jobs (including working as a clown) before pursuing sculpture.
In recent years she has completed a number of major commissions around the world, including a 2012 piece for the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., and a recent installation at the famed obelisk in Santiago, Chile: a giant phallic object covered in her signature rainbow crochet, meant to support and draw attention to gay rights and encourage discussion about human rights. “With every piece I create I try to bring awareness to various issues around the world, issues that are important to me,” she said. “It’s disturbing that we still have to fight for fundamental rights today, specifically women’s and gay rights.” What is her aim as an artist? “I want my visual language to transcend the obvious and the expected—rather it should seduce the viewers and lure them into an alternative reality where they can imagine and conjure their own fables with the help of my signature elements,” she said. Below, Olek takes us around her colorful work space, and provides some insights into her process.
ALL PHOTOS: KATHERINE MCMAHON
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“I was a creative kid who made things constantly. I created things out of air, fantasies and dreams, whatever I could get my hands on.”
"I’m like a sponge. I collect ideas, theories, experiences and the spills of last night’s vodka–soaked dinner. That sponge swells, oozes, stinks, and finally explodes with new art."
“A few months ago I created an installation in the form of a 40-foot-long dinner table for the Brooklyn Museum’s annual benefit gala. It was a rainbow–colored feast decorated with crochet-covered skulls, grape clusters, whole table settings, and a cornucopia of fantasies drawing attention to the plight of homeless people. This suit was worn by a performer at the fête.”
“This elephant mask was also worn at the recent Brooklyn museum gala.”
“It’s a never-ending crocheted journey, embellished with emotions, memories, experiences, thoughts, and insights. Most of all it’s about recording the ephemeral moments of street and performance art.”
“I buy my materials from all over the world. This yarn is from Hawaii.”
“Crocheting eats up all my time. It possesses my mind. I don’t even have time to fart. My JimmyJane is currently collecting dust in my cluttered studio.”
“I find inspiration in the paintings of the Old Masters, in human and animal rights issues, in social consciousness, and aesthetic gestures large and small.”
“I want my visual language to transcend the obvious and the expected, rather it should seduce the viewers and lure them into an alternative reality where they can imagine and conjure their own fables with the help of my signature elements.”
“I’m a romantic, well-rounded, old-fashioned lady who crochets for a living. ’Sculptor’ is a job that has has no limitations. It’s about stretching the canvas to fit the vision.”
“I was recently commissioned by the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam to illustrate what the future of fashion means to me. I created an installation called The Conversation. It included among other objects a live merman, not a mermaid, but a merman, because why not objectify the male for once?!”
“A skein of yarn struck me in the head like magic dust from an undiscovered planet. I looked up at the stars and picked up a crochet hook. It was about making art out of whatever landed closest to me.”
“I’m a theater monkey, tap dancer, burlesque queen. I tell stories.”
"They say the sky is the limit, but I’m aiming for the stars further out in our galaxy, I have a long way to go. I’ve buckled up for the bumpy road, I’m ready for my next rocket launch."