art and poetry journal · 2026

Pat Oleszko

Rrose, 1989. Fabric, fiberfill, wire, artificial roses, and velcro. 80 x 30 x 36 in.
Big Pussy, 1989. Nylon and blower. 13 x 4 x 11 feet.
Courtesy the artist and David Peter Francis, New York.
The Wordhouse, 2024, Scrabble tiles, board, wood, cardboard, dictionary, artificial birds, and pencil. 13 x 11 x 16 in. Courtesy the artist and David Peter Francis, New York.

Miss Ill Cluster, 2007, Nylon and blower. 8 x 6 x 6 feet.
Courtesy the artist and David Peter Francis, New York.

The works above are part of the 2026 solo retrospective installation Pat Oleszko: Fools Disclosure at Sculpture Center, LIC, NY. All the works in the exhibition were part of her performances and had iterative lives afterward. Oleszko is best known for wearing her work, dressing up as the characters that populate her creative world. Born in Detroit in 1947, she received a BFA from University of Michigan. Since the early 1970s, she has staged projects and performances at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1, The Kitchen, the Whitney, and Lincoln Center, in New York; the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC; and she once presented at the Winter Olympics. Oleszko was the recipient of the Rome Prize in 1998, and the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1990. She lives and works in New York City.