Where is Stephen (Steve) Poleskie Now?

IF YOU HAVE BEEN SEARCHING the web for information about Steve Poleskie, you will have discovered he has no web site. He should perhaps have several: one for his history as an artist in New York, where he founded the Chiron Press and worked with artists such as Larry Rivers, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, one for his AERIAL THEATER, one for his writing, and one for his newest activity photography. Having reached the age of 67, Poleskie realizes it is rather too late to do everything he would have liked to do, nevertheless, he must not rush. Therefore, he has backed into this Internet business with this blog.

About AERIAL THEATER. From 1972 to 1992, Steve Poleskie created vast four-dimensional pieces in the sky flying an airplane trailing smoke. These pieces were often accompanied by musicians and dancers on the ground. Because of its relation to Futurism, AERIAL THEATER was considerably more popular in Europe than it was in the U. S. A. where it was championed by the late French art critic Pierre Restany. A very good account of this activity can be found at www.caldarelli.it/polesk/polesk.htm.  If you can't read Italian there are plenty of pictures. Both of his airplanes, a Pitts Special biplane and a twin-engined Piper Apache have been sold and Poleskie no longer flys. 

The above is a photo of an Aerial Theater performance over Manhattan called "Holly Birth," done in 1987 using a Piper Apache trailing smoke from both engines. The view is from 42nd Street and Eight Avenue looking east. Because the flight was over a populated area, Poleskie was not allowed to use his Pitts Special biplane, as it was in the "experimental" catagory. He was also forbidden, by FAA regulations, to perform aerobatic maneuvers. The aircraft was also required to remain 10,000 feet above the city, technically out of the New York control zone. These pieces were not announced beforehand, with the artist merely appearing over the city on good weather days. Poleskie usually departed from his homebase in Ithaca, NY, a short hour and fifteen minute flight away. On some occasions he took off from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, with a guest aboard, often a journalist or art critic. One of the persons who flew with him was Pierre Restany. Other art critics who flew with Poleskie include the Pole, Szymon Bojko, and the Americans, Peter Frank and Donald Kuspit. Peter Frank wrote the catalog for Poleskie's exhibition at the Anderson Gallery of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Poleskie also took numerous video cameramen aloft, including one who filmed a special shown on Japanese television.

During this period the artist also operated a service called  APOGEEAIRWAY, the Flying Art Gallery. On these flights, which also departed from Teterboro, Poleskie took up art critics and collectors who viewed portfolios of his drawings and collages, some on 3x5 index cards, while circling over New York City and environs.

An exhibition containing the actual Pitts Special biplane and a series of project drawings was held in 1979 at the Louis K. Meisel Gallery on Prince Street in New York City.

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