Olek Exhibition, Tony's Gallery

I went to an exhibition on Saturday with my sister Jenn; the gallery was Tony's on Sclater Street, just off of Brick Lane, and the exhibiter was a New York artist called Olek who specialises in crochet. Upon stepping inside the gallery, you are instantly struck by an overwhelming array of bright neon colours. Everything seems to blur into one entity. We were asked to take off our shoes in order to step into the installation, the crocheted floor was comfy to tread on and you begin to feel at home - despite such unusual surroundings. The gallery itself is relatively small thus further enforcing this intimate feeling of a personal domestic space.

There was so much to look at and take in, that for a good amount of time I hadn't noticed the saucy messages embedded within! Crocheted canvases revealing past text messages from the artist's previous lovers had been immortalised and put on show for all to see. Reading these intimate moments gives you a personal glimpse into the artist's life, albeit awkward and embarrassing. My sister was a little taken back, "Does that say what I think it says...?"

Camouflage was definitely a motif of the installation - everything was crocheted and as a result everything began to merge into one. Even the crocheted photo frames contained photos of objects Olek had crocheted - one of which included a London cab! It took a total of 6 months for the artist to crochet everything, including 1 month of living at the gallery in order to complete the installation - which if you think about it, isn't a long amount of time considering how much she had to crochet!

This is my lovely friend Lorena who helped out with the exhibition and its PR as a gallery intern.

This is definitely a must visit exhibition, and it's been such a success that it's been extended until the 23rd March. The gallery is really easy to find, so no excuses! For more information on this exhibition, please click here.