We recently connected with HAROLD Olejarz and have shared our conversation below.

Hi HAROLD, thanks for joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I am most happy when I am creating. At the start of my career I drove a taxi and a limousine. As the years went by I realized that I should get a “regular job.” I started teaching middle school and am now retired. Now that I am retired I have more time for my art.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Harold Olejarz was born, raised and graduated from two colleges (Brooklyn College,BA and Pratt Institute, MFA) in Brooklyn, NY. He began his career as a sculptor. Working in wood, he created sculptures ranging from abstract waves to figural sculptures inspired by Greek and Roman sculpture. In the late 1980’s and 90’s Olejarz created wearable sculptures and began an active career as a Performance Artist. He installed himself, as a work of art, on the streets and in museums and public spaces. Olejarz performed and exhibited in numerous festivals, galleries and museums including The New Museum, The Newark Museum, The Whitney Museum and The Museum of Modern Art.

Digital imaging has fascinated Olejarz since 1990 when he first explored image manipulation with early digital tools like ColorIt! and early versions of Photoshop. Olejarz’s early digital images included a series of scanned images in which he used his hands and objects as “performers” on a flatbed scanner.
Olejarz was awarded a public art commission by NJ Transit. For this commission he created two etched glass block windscreens, that are installed at the Pavonia/ Newport Light Rail Station in Jersey City.
Recently, Olejarz is exploring digital image making outside of the rectangular frame. He uses his photographs as source material for circular, collaged images that repeat and rotate slices of photographs. “Once I have decided on a photograph, I edit and slice the photo. Then, I digitally rotate and collage the slices of the photo. I often continue to edit the sliced photograph as I am collaging the slices.
My approach is experimental. I do not use an app that simply creates a kaleidoscopic collage at the press a button. I am actively engaged in how the pieces of the photograph fit together in the final image. I work with as many as twenty layers in Photoshop to create a digital collaged image.”

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My approach is experimental. I do not use an app that simply creates a kaleidoscopic collage at the press a button. I am actively engaged in how the pieces of the photograph fit together in the final image. I work with as many as twenty layers in Photoshop to create a digital collaged image.”

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

There is to much theft and deception on the NFT space. I got involved in one NFT project and soon realized it was a scam.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.digitalharold.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/digitalharold/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/haroldolejarz
• Other: www.olejarz.com

Image Credits
All images by Harold Olejarz. Titles are file names.