Whitney: Oleszko returns
The Whitney Museum opened Magdalena Oleszko’s first solo show in 35 years — an inflatable, costume and multimedia‑heavy exhibition running through April 27 that critics say mixes humor with social commentary. It’s one of the spring shows driving NYC museum traffic right now. (timeout.com)
The artist on view is Pat Oleszko — SculptureCenter is presenting Pat Oleszko: Fool Disclosure, billed as her first solo institutional show in New York City in over 35 years, on view Jan. 29–Apr. 27, 2026. (sculpture-center.org) Oleszko also appears in the Whitney Biennial 2026 — the Biennial runs Mar. 8–Aug. 23, 2026 — and the museum is showing her inflatable Blowhard (1995) alongside the five‑minute video Footsi (1975). (whitney.org) SculptureCenter’s Fool Disclosure foregrounds the artist’s large inflatables, costume ensembles and archival film material and is curated by Sohrab Mohebbi and Jovanna Venegas, with a publication designed by Tiffany Malakooti. (artdaily.cc) The Whitney programmed a related event, Pat Oleszko: Reel Life Performantz, as part of the Biennial performance series, and the Biennial’s schedule lists Oleszko’s screening on Apr. 4 amid a slate of performances through August. (whitneymedia.org) Recent reviews and previews in Frieze, Artforum and Cultured describe the work as humor‑driven social commentary that pivots between raucous performance and soft sculptural inflatables. (frieze.com) Oleszko, born in 1947, has produced more than 70 moving‑image works between the 1970s and 2000s and has a long history of performances and puppet‑like costumes shown at major U.S. institutions. (brooklynrail.org)
