Olek

New York / USA

Agata Oleksiak or better known as Olek is a multi-disciplined artist from Poland. Her installations in the form of sculptures and more recognisably, crochet, have been seen and acclaimed by so many to the point where she has gained legendary status. Olek’s works are featured in the URBAN NATION 2018 exhibition, ‘UN-DERSTAND The Power of Art as a Social Architect’. […]

Biography / Olek

Agata Oleksiak or better known as Olek is a multi-disciplined artist from Poland. Her installations in the form of sculptures and more recognisably, crochet, have been seen and acclaimed by so many to the point where she has gained legendary status. Olek’s works are featured in the URBAN NATION 2018 exhibition, ‘UN-DERSTAND The Power of Art as a Social Architect’.

Born in Poland in 1978, her earlier education was based in her home country, where she received a BA in Cultural Studies from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland she then relocated to New York City, where she currently resides. Her earlier works involve sculptures, of which she has received the Ruth Melon Award for in 2004, though it was after this where she began to work with crochet, creating pieces to relay her message. Olek’s art and installations can be found across the globe, she has yarn-bombed cars, chained bicycles, trains, and even Wall Street’s Charging Bull statue. While her distinctive crochet moniker is a camouflage pattern in fluorescent, highlighted colours, her works have more recently, leant towards grey scale also.

A much sought-after guest lecturer and speaker for her community-based work and activism, Olek has spoken to students at a number of art academies around the world and chronicled the ephemeral moments of street and performance art that can be found in her Brooklyn studio. Her artwork “LOVE WINS” is on display in the current exhibition “Talking… & Other Banana Skins“.

Featured on Urban Nation

  • Press Release
OPENING: TALKING… & OTHER BANANA SKINS
Friday June 17th 2022, 7pm at URBAN NATION Museum Bülowstraße 7, 10783 Berlin PRESS TOUR: Thursday June 16th, 11pm Register here: pr@urban-nation.com June 2022 – August 2024 URBAN NATION presents TALKING… & OTHER BANANA SKINS, curated by Michelle Houston. The colorful and