Paul Thek & Peter Hujar

Peterpaul

  • Relics of Paul Thek (An introduction to Paul Thek)

  • Paul Thek: Diver, A Retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art:October 21st – January 9th, 2011

  • EXHIBITION: Paul Thek: cityscapes and other ideas
    Peter Hujar: Thek’s studio 1967 At Alexander and Bonin.
    DATES: October 16 – November 27, 2010

    The relationship between Thek and Hujar developed into one of the most important in both their lives. They spent the summer of 1963 in Sicily and visited the Capuchin catacombs near Palermo, where Hujar took unforgettable photographs, and where the rows of human remains in glass boxes had a profound impact on Thek’s work. In Rome, Thek made his sculpture La Corazza di Michelangelo, covering a plaster miniature breast plate in paint and wax. This is the oldest piece in the Diver exhibition. Shortly after his time in Rome, Thek began making his Technological Reliquaries, or “meat pieces.” He showed these at his first New York exhibition, in 1964, at the legendary Stable Gallery. Placed within Plexiglas boxes and hung on walls, the works were deeply disturbing and were taken by many as a comment on the cool remoteness of the geometric sculpture then on view in New York galleries (work later called Minimalism).(Post Thing Net )

    Eggplant paulthekeggplant Paul Thek 1974

    In 1983, Thek wrote to a friend, “As you may know NYC is ripe with plague now, “aids”….The gay scene here now is vastly different then what you may recall, many have died of it and sexual conduct has undergone enormous changes…It’s better than The Plague! We get to go! It’s better than dying alone for your own silly little reason! This way we get to go out with a real BANG!”
    In late July, 1988, Thek returned to New York City from a monestary in Vermont, very ill, & was hospitalized. He dictated his will naming Robert Wilson the executor. Sheyla Baykal remembered Thek’s wry humor as Thek described the proceedings as a “career move.” (It’s About Time)

    paulthek2 (via)

    See a portrait of Susan Sontag by Pete Hujar (1934 – 1987)
    Susan Sontag dedicated two of her books to Paul Thek (1933-1988)

    Body of Work – Audio slideshow (Peter Schjeldahl -The New Yorker)