Paul Thek: Notebook #41, 1977 Published by Pace Publishing. A facsimile edition of one of Thek’s composition notebooks from 1977, replete with vivid watercolors, sketches and notes American artist Paul Thek, an influential figure in the post-1960s generation, left behind more than 100 notebooks containing drawings and watercolors, diary entries, poetry, correspondences, ideas for artworks and elaborate transcriptions of texts by philosophers or theologians. Considered by Thek to be artworks unto themselves, his notebooks provide unparalleled insight into his imagination, which he translated into sculpture, painting and installation. This facsimile edition of one of Thek’s composition notebooks from 1977 provides an up-close experience of this intimate facet of his practice, with vivid watercolors, lists, scribbles, notes and sketches revealing glimmers of the inner life of a legendary artist. Within the notebook, Thek endeavors, continuously, to work out his mind, dispelling humorous and resonant self-directives, such as “Avoid anyone who seeks to be a MASTER.” A few pages later, in reference to another declarative, he cautions, “This is not necessarily true; avoid definitions.”
Creating eclectic paintings, sculptures, video and performance works, Paul Thek (1933–88) defied neat categorization or a signature style. He is best known for his 1960s “meat pieces,” later referred to as his Technological Reliquaries series, consisting of hyperrealistic wax sculptures depicting hunks of flesh—both human and otherwise. Thek is also credited as one of the first artists to create elaborate, ephemeral environments or installations composed of perishable materials such as sand, candles and newspaper. He died in New York from AIDS-related complications.
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