I found myself in Soho the other day at the right time to check out Olek’s solo show “Knitting is for Pus****,” which is up at the Christopher Henry Gallery through May 28th.
(Sorry for my low-quality phone pics.)
The artist has created a living space completely covered in colorful crochet, much of it patterned with camouflage-like designs and with tweet-like messages worked into the fabric. The way that the crochet takes over every surface and hurts your eyes is nauseating and addictive. I can certainly appreciate the obsessiveness and time that that must have gone into making it.
Around the corner from the gallery was a bike with a crocheted covering that was unmistakably Oklek. It was a perfect punctuation to see right after leaving the show.
The crocheted work of Olek is something I realized I’ve seen around NYC in the past few years, but for some reason she hadn’t really been on my radar until now. Shameful I know!
I like the text worked into the crochet. It is really hard to read though. Was it less difficult to read in person?
I found it pretty easy to read. But I thought it was best not to post more photos of it since the messages probably wouldn’t be so palatable to some people.
Loving this exhibition. Very creative. Makes me want to crochet and knit all day long. Thanks for sharing. Very inspiring!
If you haven’t seen the video of Olek guerilla-crocheting the bull on Wall St., I recommend finding it and watching. It’s hilarious and inspiring and I totally want to be her when I grow up. :)
Oh, they had that video playing at the gallery and I was captivated! It looked like she was crocheting pieces together on the bull, and not just stitching them in place. Wish I could have seen that in person!