Paul Thek: Diver, a Retrospective
October 21, 2010 – January 9, 2011
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Paul Thek: Diver, a Retrospective is the first retrospective in the United States devoted to the legendary American artist Paul Thek (1933-1988). A sculptor, painter, and one of the first artists to create environments or installations, Thek came to recognition showing his sculpture in New York galleries in the 1960s. The first works exhibited, which he began making in 1964 and called “meat pieces” as they were meant to resemble flesh, were encased in Plexiglas boxes that recall Minimal sculptures. At the end of the sixties, Thek left for Europe, where he created extraordinary environments, incorporating elements from art, literature, theater, and religion, often employing fragile and ephemeral substances, including wax and latex. After a decade, at the end of the seventies, Thek changed direction, moved back to New York, and turned to the making of small, sketch-like paintings on canvas, although he continued to create environments in key international exhibitions. With his frequent use of highly perishable materials, Thek accepted the ephemeral nature of his art works—and was aware, as writer Gary Indiana has noted, of “a sense of our own transience and that of everything around us.” With loans of work never before seen in the US, this exhibition is intended to introduce Thek to a broader American audience.
Paul Thek: Diver, a Retrospective is co-organized by Elisabeth Sussman, Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Lynn Zelevansky, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh.
Exhibition catalogue by Elisabeth Sussman and Lynn Zelevansky with contributions by George Baker, David Breslin, Eleonora Nagy, Susanne Neubauer, Michael Nickel, Scott Rothkopf, and Ann Wilson, Yale Univ. Press, 2010.
Paul Thek, Meat Piece with Warhol Brillo Box, 1965, from the series Technological Reliquaries
Paul Thek, Untitled (Meat Piece with Flies), 1965, from the series Technological Reliquaries
Paul Thek, Untitled (Self-Portrait), 1966-67, from the series Technological Reliquaries
Paul Thek, Untitled (Buzzard), 1968
Paul Thek, Untitled (Four Tube Meat Piece), 1964, from the series Technological Reliquaries
Paul Thek, Warrior's Leg, 1967, from the series Technological Reliquaries
Paul Thek, Warrior's Arm, 1967, from the series Technological Reliquaries
Paul Thek, Untitled, 1966, from the series Technological Reliquaries
Paul Thek, Fishman in Excelsis Table, 1971-2
Paul Thek, The Personal Effects of the Pied Piper and the Pied Piper's Campfire, 1975-76.
Paul Thek, Red Empire Building, 1983
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The Photography of Peter Hujar
In 1967 at Eleanor Ward’s Stable Gallery in New York, Paul Thek had a solo show of his now-lost work, The Tomb, a life-sized effigy of the artist laid to rest in a pink ziggurat—an installation that helped cement Thek’s growing reputation in the United States. Inside the tomb lay a sculpture that was composed of a mannequin body to which a face and hands cast in wax from Thek’s own form were added. The artist Neil Jenney helped Thek with the process and together they dressed the effigy in a suit jacket and jeans, painted the clothing a pale pink, and adorned it with jewelry made of human hair and gold.
For more than a decade after this initial exhibition, the “Hippie” traveled extensively, in the United States and abroad, appearing in its original sculptural setting and without the ziggurat as part of his later installations. Despite its popularity, or perhaps because of it, Thek grew tired of the work, pleading in 1981, “I really don’t want to have to do that piece AGAIN! Oh God no! Not THAT one. Imagine having to bury yourself over and over.” When his effigy finally returned to New York in the early 1980s, Thek refused to accept the shipment and, ultimately, all but a few fragments were lost.
Paul Thek met the photographer Peter Hujar(1934–1987) around 1956, and the two embarked on an artistic, intimate, and at times erotic collaboration that is often detailed in the many photographs Hujar made of Thek over the next decade. In 1967, Hujar arrived at Thek’s studio to photograph the artist with the “Hippie.” The photo session was intended to yield images that would be used to publicize the show at the Stable Gallery and, while one of Hujar’s photos did indeed appear as the exhibition poster, the session in its entirety
Peter Hujar, Thek Studio Shoot Thek Working on Tomb Effigy 8, 1967
Peter Hujar, Thek Studio Shoot Thek Working with Bicycle Wheel Above 1, 1967
Peter Hujar, Thek Studio Shoot Thek Working with Top of Face Sculpture 1, 1967
Peter Hujar, Thek Studio Shoot Face of the Tomb Effigy 6, 1967
Peter Hujar, Paul Thek in the Palermo Catacombs, 1963
Peter Hujar, Palermo Catacombs, 1963
Paul Thek, The Tomb-Death of a Hippie, 1967, (installation at Stable Gallery, NY, 1967)
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Related event
Thek's Teaching Notes (with artists Jean Shin and Harrell Fletcher)
October 29, 2010, 7 PM
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
When Paul Thek taught at the Cooper Union School of Art, he prepared his “Teaching Notes: 4-Dimensional Design,” a series of directives for the students, such as, “Design something to sell on a street corner,” and “Design a work of art that fits in a matchbox, a shoebox.” This evening, as part of the My Turn public programs series and in conjunction with Paul Thek: Diver, A Retrospective, artists Jean Shin and Harrell Fletcher open up Thek’s Teaching Notes for a wider public and invite participants to fulfill a set of instructions through a series of hands-on workshops. Roll up your sleeves and get ready to dive in. As Thek has asked, “What is the purpose of art?”
* Check out Paul Thek's original questionnaire "Teaching Notes: 4-Dimensional Design" on LearningToLoveYouMore.com by artists Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher
-
Conservation of Paul Thek's "Fishman"(1968) at Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum
Photos of Paul Thek's Fishman via smelvia on Flickr.com
-
"Paul Thek: In the Context of Today's Contemporary Art" at ZKM, December 15, 2007 - March 30, 2008
"Paul Thek at ZKM / MUSEUM FÜR NEUE KUNST, KARLSRUHE, GERMANY" / Frieze Magazine, Issue 115, May 2008
Paul Thek in the Context of Today’s Contemporary Art at ZKM / Vernissage.tv, January 18, 2008
October 21, 2010 – January 9, 2011
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Paul Thek: Diver, a Retrospective is the first retrospective in the United States devoted to the legendary American artist Paul Thek (1933-1988). A sculptor, painter, and one of the first artists to create environments or installations, Thek came to recognition showing his sculpture in New York galleries in the 1960s. The first works exhibited, which he began making in 1964 and called “meat pieces” as they were meant to resemble flesh, were encased in Plexiglas boxes that recall Minimal sculptures. At the end of the sixties, Thek left for Europe, where he created extraordinary environments, incorporating elements from art, literature, theater, and religion, often employing fragile and ephemeral substances, including wax and latex. After a decade, at the end of the seventies, Thek changed direction, moved back to New York, and turned to the making of small, sketch-like paintings on canvas, although he continued to create environments in key international exhibitions. With his frequent use of highly perishable materials, Thek accepted the ephemeral nature of his art works—and was aware, as writer Gary Indiana has noted, of “a sense of our own transience and that of everything around us.” With loans of work never before seen in the US, this exhibition is intended to introduce Thek to a broader American audience.
Paul Thek: Diver, a Retrospective is co-organized by Elisabeth Sussman, Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Lynn Zelevansky, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh.
Exhibition catalogue by Elisabeth Sussman and Lynn Zelevansky with contributions by George Baker, David Breslin, Eleonora Nagy, Susanne Neubauer, Michael Nickel, Scott Rothkopf, and Ann Wilson, Yale Univ. Press, 2010.
-
The Photography of Peter Hujar
In 1967 at Eleanor Ward’s Stable Gallery in New York, Paul Thek had a solo show of his now-lost work, The Tomb, a life-sized effigy of the artist laid to rest in a pink ziggurat—an installation that helped cement Thek’s growing reputation in the United States. Inside the tomb lay a sculpture that was composed of a mannequin body to which a face and hands cast in wax from Thek’s own form were added. The artist Neil Jenney helped Thek with the process and together they dressed the effigy in a suit jacket and jeans, painted the clothing a pale pink, and adorned it with jewelry made of human hair and gold.
For more than a decade after this initial exhibition, the “Hippie” traveled extensively, in the United States and abroad, appearing in its original sculptural setting and without the ziggurat as part of his later installations. Despite its popularity, or perhaps because of it, Thek grew tired of the work, pleading in 1981, “I really don’t want to have to do that piece AGAIN! Oh God no! Not THAT one. Imagine having to bury yourself over and over.” When his effigy finally returned to New York in the early 1980s, Thek refused to accept the shipment and, ultimately, all but a few fragments were lost.
Paul Thek met the photographer Peter Hujar(1934–1987) around 1956, and the two embarked on an artistic, intimate, and at times erotic collaboration that is often detailed in the many photographs Hujar made of Thek over the next decade. In 1967, Hujar arrived at Thek’s studio to photograph the artist with the “Hippie.” The photo session was intended to yield images that would be used to publicize the show at the Stable Gallery and, while one of Hujar’s photos did indeed appear as the exhibition poster, the session in its entirety
-
Related event
Thek's Teaching Notes (with artists Jean Shin and Harrell Fletcher)
October 29, 2010, 7 PM
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
When Paul Thek taught at the Cooper Union School of Art, he prepared his “Teaching Notes: 4-Dimensional Design,” a series of directives for the students, such as, “Design something to sell on a street corner,” and “Design a work of art that fits in a matchbox, a shoebox.” This evening, as part of the My Turn public programs series and in conjunction with Paul Thek: Diver, A Retrospective, artists Jean Shin and Harrell Fletcher open up Thek’s Teaching Notes for a wider public and invite participants to fulfill a set of instructions through a series of hands-on workshops. Roll up your sleeves and get ready to dive in. As Thek has asked, “What is the purpose of art?”
* Check out Paul Thek's original questionnaire "Teaching Notes: 4-Dimensional Design" on LearningToLoveYouMore.com by artists Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher
-
Conservation of Paul Thek's "Fishman"(1968) at Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum
Photos of Paul Thek's Fishman via smelvia on Flickr.com
-
"Paul Thek: In the Context of Today's Contemporary Art" at ZKM, December 15, 2007 - March 30, 2008
"Paul Thek at ZKM / MUSEUM FÜR NEUE KUNST, KARLSRUHE, GERMANY" / Frieze Magazine, Issue 115, May 2008
Paul Thek in the Context of Today’s Contemporary Art at ZKM / Vernissage.tv, January 18, 2008
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