From 21 November, Pat Oleszko: Fool Disclosure will be on display – the first solo exhibition in Europe by the American artist and performer Pat Oleszko. The exhibition brings together sculpture, performance, costume, film and political commentary in an exuberant world in which humour and imagination undermine all forms of authority.
Pat Oleszko is one of the most unconventional feminist voices in international performance art. For over fifty years, Oleszko has been using her body and public space as artistic material. Building on her early performances, she has developed extravagant costumes and monumental inflatable sculptures that literally take to the streets, the stage and the audience.
Central to Pat Oleszko: Fool Disclosure are her spectacular inflatables, which became a key part of her practice from the 1980s onwards. Works such as Blowhilda (1980), Big Pussy (1989), The Domino Effect (1990) and the later Deportment of Corrections (2007) combine absurdity and visual spectacle with incisive reflections on politics, war, gender and power. Costumes, films, photographs and archive material also reveal how, throughout her career, Oleszko created an ever-changing parade of characters: grotesque, seductive, rebellious and often strikingly present in public spaces.
The exhibition was developed by SculptureCenter in New York. The presentation at Museum Cobra was curated by Suzanne Wallinga and Niels Vis. Following its run in Amstelveen, the exhibition will travel to Centro Pecci in Prato, Italy.
