Pat Oleszko

Pat Oleszko
Born1947
Alma materUniversity of Michigan
Occupation(s)Visual and performing artist

Pat Oleszko (born Patricia Oleszko; 1947)[1] is an American visual and performing artist.[2][3][4][5] Oleszko has performed at major New York institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA P.S. 1, and P.S. 122.[1] In 1990, the artist was awarded the prestigious Guggenheim Foundation fellowship.[6]

Early life and education

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Oleszko is from Detroit, Michigan. Her dad was a chemical engineer and an inventor and, her mother an arts aficionado.

In 1970, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.[1][7][8]

Work and Life

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Oleszko has spent much of her life as an artist working and living in New York City. Notably, she is one of the few artists who has garnered attention across a wide-breadth of cultural publications, from Artforum to Playboy to Sesame Street Magazine.[9] She's appeared on the cover of Ms. Magazine and had a striptease spread in Esquire.

The artist recalls being a frequent partygoer at Studio 54 and the Mudd Club in her 30s.[10]

In 1976, she was artist-in-residence at Artpark, Lewiston, New York.[1]

Of her early vocation and career as a performance art, she states:

"There wasn’t a term for “performance art” at the time, so one of my teachers came up with the idea that I could use my costumes as illustrations. That’s how I ended up in Ms. magazine. I wore an eight-and-a-half-foot-tall Statue of Liberty costume to the Easter Parade in New York City, and Kirsten came along with me. It was a hit."[11]

Much of the artists output has been large-scale and eccentric works. Some under this rubric are The Wizard of Oz's Wicked Witch's feet sticking out from a cabin, a rocket ship well over 50-feet, Rudolph's red nose operated by the artist dressed as a Christmas tree, a crocodile devouring a human-like American flag, phallic sculptures, and critical political caricatures.[12]

In her 1990 performance Nora's Art, she dramatically appeared from between the legs of a giant inflatable woman, now exhibited at David Peter Francis. Another performance, Bluebeard’s Hassle: The Writhes of the Wives (1989), was inspired by research on a serial killer and the seven deadly sins, featuring inflatables like Udder Delight that blossomed on stage like flowers.

In 2022, she was in a group show at JTT gallery in the Lower East Side.[13]

In 2024, Oleszko had her first major solo show in New York since 1990, at David Peter Francis in Chinatown.[6] The show included costumes, videos, archival material, a giant inflatable, and a “coat of arms” in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Surrealist Manifesto. Later that year she performed at “The Future is For/Boating” an intervention on the Staten Island Ferry. The performance included artists Amando Houser, Alex Tatarsky, and Abby Lloyd.

Themes in her work include wearable and inflatable sculpture and costume, video, satire, camp, and humiliation, cabaret and activism. Her influences include Flann O’Brien, Niki de Saint Phalle, Buster Keaton, Lewis Carroll, Dadaism, and the Bauhaus. artist Carri Skoczek is a frequent collaborator.[14]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Heller, Jules; Heller, Nancy G. (2013). North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary. Routledge. p. 419. ISBN 9781135638825.
  2. ^ Gussow, Mel (24 February 1993). "Theater in Review". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  3. ^ Kampel, Stewart (15 December 1996). "The Magic Behind Puppets". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  4. ^ Charles, Eleanor (7 November 1999). "The Guide". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  5. ^ Roselee Goldberg Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present, p. 180, Thames & Hudson, 2001 ISBN 978-0500203392
  6. ^ a b Schwendener, Steinhauer, Heinrich, and Elujoba, Martha, Jillian, Will, and Yinka (May 29, 2024). "What to See in N.Y.C. Galleries in June". The New York Times. Retrieved September 27, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ "The Mad Hatter: Pat Oleszko in the Studio - Women's Studio Workshop". Women's Studio Workshop. 2014-09-24. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
  8. ^ Festival, Ann Arbor Film (2020-01-10). "3 Things to Know About Pat Oleszko". aaff. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  9. ^ Sandstrom, Emily (2024-07-05). "Pat Oleszko's New Show Looks Back On Fifty Years of Trailblazing Performance". Interview Magazine. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  10. ^ Acheampong, Nicole; Berlinger, Max; Chen, Jason; Guadagnino, Kate; Hamilton, Colleen; Harris, Mark; Ramírez, Juan A.; Romack, Coco; Snyder, Michael (2024-06-27). "30 L.G.B.T.Q. Artists Look Back on the Pleasures and Pain of Being 30". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  11. ^ Acheampong, Nicole; Berlinger, Max; Chen, Jason; Guadagnino, Kate; Hamilton, Colleen; Harris, Mark; Ramírez, Juan A.; Romack, Coco; Snyder, Michael (2024-06-27). "30 L.G.B.T.Q. Artists Look Back on the Pleasures and Pain of Being 30". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  12. ^ "Family Style - Bursting at the Seams". www.family.style. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  13. ^ "77-Year-Old Performance Provocateur Pat Oleszko Takes Manhattan With Her First New York Solo Since 1990". www.culturedmag.com. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  14. ^ "Skoczek (Skoček), Erich (Eric)". dx.doi.org. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
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