Pat Oleszko, David Peter Francis Gallery, Art Basel Miami Beach 2025, Survey sector. For Art Basel Miami Beach, the gallery David Peter Francis (New York) presents a Survey booth spotlighting American artist Pat Oleszko’s lifelong exploration of absurdity. Central is the re-emergence of her iconic 1995 inflatable sculpture Big Foots, displayed alongside sculptural hats from the same period. In the 1970s, frustrated by collapsing traditional sculptures at university, Oleszko turned her body and air into armatures, creating monumental wearable works that subverted humiliation. Her boundary-blurring “pedestrian art” spans costuming, performance, theater, protest, and burlesque, using inflatable nylon constructions powered by fans and vacuums—compact when deflated yet gigantic when activated. Big Foots has appeared in numerous performances and exhibitions over decades. The booth extends her playful philosophy: gallerists will wear her sculptural hats, which serve as conceptual starting points for performances. Through comedy and scale, Oleszko invites participation and celebrates freedom in defying norms.
Pat Oleszko, David Peter Francis Gallery, Art Basel Miami Beach 2025, Survey sector. Miami Beach, December 5, 2025.
Pat Oleszko (born 1947) is an American visual and performing artist renowned for her absurd, satirical, and boundary-pushing work that blends sculpture, costume, performance, film, and protest.Born in Michigan, she studied at the University of Michigan in the late 1960s, where she shifted from traditional sculpture to using her own body and inflatable materials as armatures after early frustrations with rigid mediums. Since moving to New York City in 1970, she has created monumental wearable inflatables and elaborate costumes, often powered by fans or vacuums, turning everyday spaces into stages for humor, feminist critique, and political commentary.Her practice—described as "pedestrian art"—spans street performances, burlesque, parades, theater, and major institutions like MoMA, the Whitney, and PS1. She embraces puns, subversion, and silliness to challenge norms, gender roles, and power structures.
After decades of working on the fringes, she has gained renewed recognition, with major solo shows in recent years (including at SculptureCenter in 2026) and awards like the Guggenheim Fellowship. At 78, she's celebrated as a trailblazing "fool" who uses comedy and spectacle for defiant freedom.
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