Paul Thek

MONOGRAPHS & CATALOGS

Paul Thek: Tales the Tortoise Taught Us Text by Margrit Brehm, Roberto Ohrt, Axel Heil. There are some artists who are never forgotten simply because other artists will constantly cite them as examples. Paul Thek (1933-1988) is one such artist. Revered for his disarming humor and
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WALTHER KöNIG
ISBN: 9783865606174
$45.00 | In stock

Paul Thek in Process Edited and text by Susanne Neubauer. In 1971, Harald Szeemann invited the American sculptor and installation pioneer Paul Thek to contribute to Documenta 5. Szeemann had named one section of the Documenta Individual Mythologies,” describing a new
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JRP|RINGIER
ISBN: 9783037642535
$29.95 | In stock

Paul Thek

Paul Thek in Process

Edited and text by Susanne Neubauer.
Published by JRP|Ringier

In 1971, Harald Szeemann invited the American sculptor and installation pioneer Paul Thek to contribute to Documenta 5. Szeemann had named one section of the Documenta “Individual Mythologies,” describing a new kind of art structured around a mythology invented by individual artists, rather than by a culture. Thek’s contribution--the now legendary “Pyramid” installation--came to be seen as the supreme example of Individual Mythology, and is one of Thek’s best known works (Documenta 5 is likewise among the most famous of all Documentas to date). Paul Thek in Process stems from an unrealized publication that Thek had hoped to produce for Documenta 5, which would enlarge upon the occasion and the mythology of his “Pyramid.” It comprises a trove of previously unpublished photographs recording the installation at Moderna Museet in 1971–72, all of the surviving correspondence between Thek and the museum, work-related ephemera and press coverage of the work.

Paul Thek: Tales the Tortoise Taught Us

Text by Margrit Brehm, Roberto Ohrt, Axel Heil.
Published by Walther König

There are some artists who are never forgotten simply because other artists will constantly cite them as examples. Paul Thek (1933-1988) is one such artist. Revered for his disarming humor and irreverent handling of artworld proprieties, and much lamented for his premature death from AIDS at the age of 55, the likes of Vito Acconci, Bruce Nauman, Mike Kelley, John Miller, Paul McCarthy, Kim Gordon and Matthew Barney have all sung his praises. Tales the Tortoise Told Us is a three-part Thek compendium, composed of writing by Margit Brehm, Axel Heil and Roberto Ort (who discuss the artist's ambivalent relationship with his homeland, and Thek's odd place in the Beat and Hippie generation), a large spread of reproductions of Thek works and a chronologically-arranged survey of works from 1963 up to the artist's death in 1988.