Paul T h ek

Nothing But Time : Paul Thek Revisited 1964–1987

1 2 Pau l Thek 25 September – 9 November, 2013 Nothing But Time : Paul Thek Revisited 1964–1987 Thek Time by Kenny Schachter

We are all allotted a certain amount of time in life. If you reside in the West and manage to achieve your life expectancy of 82 years, you will have clocked 4,264 weeks in the process. Just shy of his 55th birthday, when he needlessly passed away from AIDS-related illness, Paul Thek managed only 2,844 weeks – a pit- tance when one thinks of all he had to offer and what he might have achieved. But as a mightily fulfilled person whose legacy we all share, Thek made the most of his life and managed to express a good deal during what limited time he had. Throughout his life, Thek trained himself by relentlessly pursuing and pushing traditional technical skills in draftsmanship, and installation. Nose, hand and feet studies in sketchbooks reminiscent of those by masters from centuries past are imbued with finesse, individuality and acute attention to detail. A collection of drawings in one notepad is dated 31 December 1969 and 1 January 1970, a time when many of his peers might have been out celebrating; but for Thek, productivity and production were ultimately ends in themselves, to the extent that striving was the only goal that mattered. That was the key to Thek’s notion of time: it’s all (very) short so best to make do, spread your seed and be as prolific as possible, and that included New Year at the end of the sixties in Europe when things must have been simultane- ously agitated, anxious and fun. In various paintings and drawings there is a nervous, intense, Van Gogh-like intensity to Thek’s lines and brushstrokes; the pressure of the pencil on the paper or brush on canvas is palpable, but it also demonstrates supreme confidence. You can detect a forlorn sadness in some of the works as well, affecting compassion and empathy but also perhaps signaling the sense of emptiness he experienced throughout his nomadic travels without being firmly rooted to a particular place.

9 With Thek, there is often evidence of repetitive attempts to nail something down, and enchant. Thek’s far from perfectly executed classical, elegant drawings and a slow, steadied patience like a turtle – a sure sign of a disciplined practitioner. paintings, their rudimentary details blended with the sublime, are forever touch- Thek continually challenged himself to be better, to do more. He took a linear ing and beautiful, and as personal as reading alone in bed. approach to (ful)filling time and mastering a craft before he even introduced the The details of Thek’s oeuvre can be painstakingly, excruciatingly precise conceptual into the frame. This practise has been lost to many of the last few (take his architecturally rendered studies of ), while he simultaneously generations of contemporary artists, whose work has morphed into an overly excelled at what I call ‘good bad art’. In these late works, Thek purposely set glamorous pseudo-scene devoid of content or meaning. about referencing awful art to feed the public what they seemed to want by em- Today we spend far too much time on our mobile phones and ubiquitous bracing the worst of the likes of Sandro Chia, Franceso Clemente, Enzo Cucchi personal electronic devices; we fritter it away, ever more obsessed with idle lei- and Julian Schnabel, who were all the rage in 1980s New York. sure, much of it spent sitting on our hands. Certainly Thek amused himself with Never entirely comfortable with the notoriety accorded early on to the Tech- frivolous pursuits on occasion, but art supplies were never far from hand. nological Reliquary series (1964–7), Thek neither sought out fame nor wished Thek drew or painted clocks, describing their brutal functionality and the to be recognised other than for his accomplishments in the multi-disciplinary reference to loss they always portray; he even named one piece Portrait of the realms he drifted in and out of. To be applauded for one body of work that he Artist Nude. In front of the timepiece we are all nude and exposed. Another re- always believed too precious was as unacceptable as it was unappealing. Thek ductive line drawing featuring the word ‘MOLEHILL’, with an arrow pointing wanted to be more democratic and accessible in the scope of his materials and to a minor pimple of a bump in the earth, serves as a parable for our tendency their usage. to overreact to petty things rather than pulling our collective selves up by the We have all witnessed decay and deterioration from the onset of disease that bootstraps and getting on. takes us en route from the ‘Here’ to the ‘There’ – that is, death. And Thek, unlike There are other works portraying fragments of angels (sometimes urinating any artist before or afterwards, irrevocably froze the hair-thin line between life mid-flight), mythical beings that reflected Thek’s undying hope and belief in the and loss – the most dramatic, evocative depiction of oxidation, entropy, human spiritual that infused the entire pursuit of his art making, an un-blind leap of frailty and vulnerability ever to be arrested and represented. faith, faith being something Thek firmly held onto throughout his life in good Thek came as close as anyone to beating time by positing such a profound, times and in the horrible years that followed. Though Thek was a practising powerful and endlessly resonant body of art. He has touched so many in the most Christian (in his own quirky and customised way) and alluded to the fact consist- personal and visceral way and continues to touch my life every day of every pass- ently in his life and work, his view of religion tended more towards acceptance ing week. The tableaux vivants of Thek’s Technological Reliquaries are the perfect and conviction through the outpouring of his own art and words. still lifes come to death, portraits of cancer literal and figurative. If ever there was an argument to establish God’s existence, Thek can be said Early on, Thek enjoyed what must have seemed like a life sprinkled with to have channeled Him through his art. The spiritual spewed out of him like magic dust as a quasi-celebrated (or at least appreciated by a select few) wun- sage, shaman and alchemist all rolled into one Socrates-like, peripatetic persona derkind. Young and handsome, he experienced rapid exposure while exploring of his own invention. Thek’s art and mind merged into an organic whole that he various art forms widely pursued at the time, from designing theater sets to acting succeeded in passionately communicating to all who came into his path. Better on stage and in TV commercials and spaghetti westerns in the 1960s. yet, his work communicated on his behalf, and despite a fair amount of his output Later in life things didn’t go particularly well for Thek. When writing in his having been destroyed for lack of the resources to store it, it continues to enrich journals about a group of paintings he made from the rooftop of his East Village

10 11 tenement in New York that employed the colours and brushwork of Monet, in his frustration he referred to Monet as ‘Money’ . After Thek’s death his work received next to no support from either institu- tions or collectors. However, it gives me great pleasure to report that after various celebrated retrospectives and glorious publications in the USA and Europe, this story has a fairytale ending that no one could appreciate more than Mr Thek himself: a new-found, widespread and seemingly universal acceptance by the art world. As he might have said himself, better that it happened late than never. If something as vague and elusive as heaven exists, Thek would surely be seen sporting an apron, hunched over a drafting table, oblivious to the dancing and frolicking in the midst. Time is a life and death sentence with lots of writing on the wall as a con- stant reminder, a ball and chain from cradle to casket, and we must make of it what we can. Despite how we feel about museum hanging policies, our personal chronologies inexorably lurch forward in one direction as sure as the sun rises and sets; we are doomed from the start. But there is only one path forward to salvation, whatever it may be, and that is the endless expression of creativity in the most diligent and workmanlike manner, interacting with any and all similarly minded people collected along the journey. To close, a few words by Thek: ‘I am happy when I am efficient.E fficient at what? At producing.’ Then, in the next breath he states: ‘I’m not interested in efficiency.’ It was a sloppy, imperfect world of contradictions that Thek in- habited, but his underlying, sparse credo is one for all to take note of: ‘Don’t be philosophically incapable of action.’ Enough said.

12 Works Untitled (Knife), 1965 Graphite on prepared board 68 × 55.4 × 3.9 cm

16 Untitled (from the Series "Technological Reliquaries"), 1965-1966 Wax, formica, metal, wood, glass beads, resin, plexiglass 98.4 × 31.1 cm

18 Untitled (Column Study), ca. 1966  Pencil and colored pencil on paper 78.1 × 64.4 cm

20 Meat Cable, 1966 Wax, mixed media and steel cable 335.3 × 10.2 × 10.2 cm

22 Untitled (5 Dragons), 1969 Acrylic on newspaper 57.5 × 84 cm

24 Untitled (Green Landscape), ca. 1969 Acrylic on newspaper 42 × 58 cm

26 Untitled (Landscape), ca. 1969 Acrylic on newspaper 42.5 × 58 cm

28 Untitled (Blue Seascape), 1970 Gouache on newspaper 39.5 × 59 cm, framed: 70 × 97 × 4 cm

30 Untitled (9-9-70), 1970 Pencil on paper 30 × 39.5 cm

32 Untitled (Cityscape), ca. 1972 Acrylic on canvas 241 × 166.5 cm

34 Untitled (Eggplant), 1974 Enamel on newspaper 58 × 84 cm, framed: 71 × 97.5 × 3.7 cm

36 Untitled (Hammer and Sickle), 1975 Crayon on newspaper 58 × 85 cm

38 Weary Wire Walker, 1980 Acrylic on canvas board 35.5 × 46 cm

40 Untitled (Sailboat), ca. 1982 Watercolour and pencil on paper 47.6 × 60 cm

42 Water Towers, 1983 Acrylic on canvas board 51 × 60.5 cm

44 Red Empire Building, 1983 Acrylic on canvas board 45.2 × 60.2 cm

46 Untitled (South America), ca. 1984 Acrylic on coloured cardboard 61 × 46 cm

48 Untitled (Latin America), 1984 Acrylic on canvas board 64.1 × 94.6 cm

50 Untitled (Figure Running on the Beach), 1987 Watercolour and pencil on paper 45.7 × 61 cm

52 Untitled (Birds on the Shore), 1987 Watercolour and pencil on paper 45.7 × 61 cm

54 Window with Figure, ca. 1987 Acrylic on canvas board 33 × 25.4 cm

56 Windowscape, 1987 acrylic on canvas 25 × 32.5 cm

58 Untitled (Ribbon), ca. 1988 Acrylic on canvas board 30.5 × 40.6 cm

60

Biography Group Exhibitions

Paul Thek 1958 The Gallery, Miami Painting and Sculpture Today Kunsthistorici verzamelen 1933 Indianapolis Museum of Art, eigentijdse kunst: van Appel Born in Brooklyn, NY 1965 Indianapolis tot Sykor, Kunsthistorisch A Contemporary Collection of Institut, Amsterdam 1950 Painting and Sculpture, Selected The Obsessive Image, 1960–1968 Art Students League, New York from the Collection of Eleanor Ward The Institute of Contemporary Arts, Continuing Surrealism Pratt Institute, Brooklyn Lyman Allyn Museum, London La Jolla Museum of New London, Connecticut Contemporary Art, California 1951-54 documenta 4, Kassel Cooper Union School of Art, Beyond Realism Gene Swenson: Retrospective New York Pace Gallery, New York 1969 for a Critic, The Museum of Art, Art ’69, Atheneumin Taisemuseum, University of Kansas, Lawrence 1967 One Hundred Contemporary Helsinki. Traveled to: Tampereen Fulbright Fellowship American Drawings Nykytaiteen Museo, Tampere Fünf Sammler: Kunst unserer zeit The University of Michigan von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal 1976 Museum of Art, Ann Arbor Kunst der sechziger Jahre National Endowment for the Collection Ludwig, Wallraff- The Riderless Boat, Willard Arts Grant 1966 Richartz-Museum, Cologne Gallery, New York The Other Tradition, Institute 1988 of Contemporary Art, University Galerie 20, Amsterdam 1974 Died in New York, NY of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Return to Sender, Galleria Schema, Irritarte, Galleria Milano, Milan Florence Art in the Mirror, The , New York The Dillard Collection 1975 Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Menace, Museum of Contemporary Contemporary American Still Life Greensboro, North Carolina Art, Chicago The Museum of Modern Art, New York Human Concern/Personal Torment: 1976 The Grotesque in American Art Amerikanische Kunst heute: Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Whitney Museum of American Art, Bilder, Skulpturen, Objekte, Art Gallery, Greensboro, New York. Traveled to: University Zeichnungen, Graphiken North Carolina Art Museum, University of Berliner Festwochen, Berlin California, Berkeley (1970) 1967 La Biennale di Venezia, Venice The Pittsburgh International 1970 Exhibition of Contemporary Figures/Environments, Walker Art 1980 Paintings and Sculpture, Museum Center, Minneapolis. Traveled to: Zeichen des Galubens— of Art, Carnegie Institute, Cincinnati Art Museum; Dallas Geist der Avantgarde Pittsburgh Museum of Fine Arts (1970–1971) Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin

1968 1971 Tendenzen Amerikanischer Art of the 60’s: Selections from Depth and Presence, The Corcoran Zeichnung in den Siebziger Jahren the Collection of Hanford Yang Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Kunsthalle Basel Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut La Biennale di Venezia, Venice

67 Zeitgenönossiche Kunst aus Contemporary Arts, London New York 1981 Urban Pulses: The Artist and Artists Call: 50/50, Leo Castelli 1989 1993 der Sammlung des Migros- A Feast for the Eyes, Heckscher the City, Pittsburgh Plan for Art Gallery, New York Human Concern/Personal Torment: Sculpture & Multiples, Brooke Genossenschaft-Bundes, Museo Meisterwerke aus sechs 2000 Museum, Huntington, New York The Grotesque in American Art, Alexander Editions, New York Cantonale d’Arte, Zurich Jahrhunderten, Kunsthalle Bremen Die verletzte Diva: Hysterie, Paul Thek, part of the Special 1985 Revisited, Phyllis Kind Gallery, zu Gast, Bonn Körper, Technik in der Kunst des Figurative Sculpture, The Institute Projects Program that accompanied Chiarobscuro, Art City, New York Vito Acconci, Bruce Nauman, Paul 1995 20. Jahrhunderts, Kunstverein for Art and Urban Resources, P.S.1, Abstract Painting: 1960–69, itself New York. Traveled to: Phyllis Thek, Brooke Alexander Editions, Duck!, Edward Thorp Gallery, A Decade of Collecting: Recent München and Städtische Galerie im Long Island City, New York part of the program Remembering Stigmata, Bond Gallery, New York Kind Gallery, Chicago (1990) New York New York Acquisitions in Contemporary Lenbachhaus, Munich. Traveled to: the 1960’s, P.S.1 Center for Drawings, The Museum of Modern Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck; Drawing Distinctions: American Contemporary Art, Long Island Memento Mori, Goldie Paley 1990 Wiederbegegnung mit Géométrie Sacrée/Sakrale Art, New York Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden Drawings of the Seventies, City, New York Gallery, Moore College of Art, Contemporary Assemblage: The Unbekanntem, Diözesanmuseum Geometrie, Galerie des Beaux-Arts Louisiana Museum of Modern Philadelphia Dada and Surrealist Legacy, LA Köln, Cologne Galerij, Brussels A Living Testament to the Blood Full Serve, Mixed Greens and Art, Denmark. Traveled to: New Art at the Tate Gallery, Louver, Los Angeles Fairies, Printed Matter, New York Kenny Schachter/Rove, New York Kunsthalle Basel; Städtische Tate Gallery, London The Gathering of the Avant-garde: The Uncanny, Gemeentemuseum Glaube, Hoffnung, Liebe, Tod, Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich The Lower East Side, Kenkeleba Word as Image: American Art, Arnhem, The Netherlands Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna 1998 Sweet ’N Low, Mixed Greens and (1982); Wilhelm Hack Museum, 1984 Gallery, New York 1960–1990, Milwaukee Art Der unendliche Raum dehnt sich Kenny Schachter/Rove, New York Ludwigshafen, Germany(1982) Content: A Contemporary Focus, Museum. Traveled to: Oklahoma Already Buddha, Greenville County 1996 aus, Diözesanmuseum Köln, 1974–1984, Hirshhorn Museum 18a Bienal Internacional de São City Art Museum (1990–1991); Museum of Art, South Carolina Arts’ Communities/AIDS’ Cologne (organizer), exhibited at Face to Face: Works on Paper Westkunst: Zeitgenössische Kunst and Sculpture Garden, Washington, Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil The Contemporary Arts Museum, Communities: Realizing the Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden from The Museum Overholland seit 1939, Museen der Stadt Köln in D.C. Houston (1991) Lucian Freud, Paul Thek: Archive Project, Boston Center for Collection, Stedelijk Museum, den Rheinhallen der Kölner Messe, 1986 Etchings, Miami-Dade College Art the Arts From Warhol to Mapplethorpe: Amsterdam Cologne Disarming Images: Art for Nuclear The City and the Street: Paintings, Fragments, Parts, Wholes—The Gallery, Kendall, Florida Three Decades of Art at ICA, Disarmament, Art Museum Photographs, and Sculpture, La Body and Culture, White Columns, Bringing It All Back Home, Gracie Institute of Contemporary Art, 2001 Drugs: Kruiden van hemel Association (organizer). Traveled Mama La Galleria, New York New York Nachtschattengewachse/The Mansion/Fred Dorfman Projects, Philadelphia (Self) Portraits, Alexander and en hel, Museum voor Land to: Contemporary Arts Center, Nightshade Family, Museum New York Bonin, New York en Volkenkunde, Rotterdam Cinncinati; University Art Gallery, Chambres d’amis, Museum van 1991 Fredericianum, Kassel 1999 San Diego State University; Hedendaagse Kunst, Ghent, Paris 1971, Galerie Carol Johnssen, The Collection Reviewed: l’Ouverture, Musée d’Art The Devil is in the Details, Allston Continuous Creation, Serpentine Museum of Art, Washington Belgium Munich Abject Art: Repulsion and Desire in Contemporary Art, Hirshhorn Contemporain de Gand, Ghent, Skirt Gallery, Boston Gallery, London State University, Pullman (1985); American Art, Whitney Museum of Museum and Sculpture Garden, Belgium New York State Museum, Albany 1987 (Dis)member, on the Hundredth American Art, New York Washington, D.C. Eine Barocke Party: Augenblicke 1982 (1985); University Art Museum, The Success of Failure, Independent Anniversary of Gericault’s Death, Circa 1968, Serralves Museum of des Welttheaters in der Tableaux: Nine Contemporary University of California, Santa Curators Incorporated, New York Simon Watson, New York 1994 Deformations: Aspects of the Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugal zeitgenössischen Kunst, Kunsthalle Sculptors, The Contemporary Arts Barbara (1985); Munson-Williams- (organizer). Traveled to: Laumeier Significant Losses: Artists Who Modern Grotesque, The Museum Wien, Vienna Center, Cincinnati Proctor Institute Museum of Art, Sculpture Park and Gallery, Saint Bildhauerzeichnungen des Wilhelm Have Died From AIDS, The Art of Modern Art, New York Art in Our Time: 1950 to the Utica, New York (1985); Fine Arts Louis; Johnson Gallery, Middlebury Lehmbruck Museum Duisburg, Gallery, University of Maryland Present, Walker Art Center, Painting at the Edge of the World, 1983 Gallery, University of Nevada, Las College, Vermont; University of Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, at College Park 1997 Minneapolis Walker Art Center, Minneapolis The Sixth Day: A Survey of Vegas(1985); Baxter Art Gallery, Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson Duisburg, Germany From Body to Being: Reflections Recent Developments in Figurative California Institute of Technology, (1988) Drawn in the 1970’s/Printed in on the Human Image, Des Moines Highlights from The Dillard Prodigal Prodigy, White Box, Sculpture, Bergman Gallery, Pasadena (1986); Yellowstone Art 1992 the 1970’s, Brooke Alexander, Art Center, Iowa Collection of Art on Paper: Drawn New York The Renaissance Society, University Center, Billings, Montana (1986); Artcake, 1980–1986: Private Word & Image, Brooke Alexander New York Across the Country, Weatherspoon of Chicago Bronx Museum of the Arts, New Sammeln Gegenwartskunst, Editions, New York The Hirshhorn Collects: Recent Art Gallery, Greensboro, North 2002 York (1986) Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich Prospect/Retrospect. Zeitgenössische Acquisitions 1992–1996, Hirshhorn Carolina My Head is on Fire but my Heart Terminal New York, Harborside Mssr. B’s Curio Shop, Thread Kunst aus der Sammlung Museum and Sculpture Garden, is Full of Love, Charlottenborg Industrial Center (Broadway Army Content: A Contemporary Focus, The Pyramid Show, Mokotoff Waxing Space, New York des Kunstmuseums Luzern, Washington, D.C. The American Century: Art & Udstillingsbygning, Copenhagen Terminal), Brooklyn, New York 1974–1984, Hirshhorn Museum Gallery, New York Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne Culture, 1950–2000, Whitney and The Modern Institute, Glasgow and Sculpture Garden, Drawings, Brooke Alexander, Belladonna, Institute of Museum of American Art, (organizer) Washington, D.C. New York

68 69 and Bonin, New York Family of Man, De Appel, Small Sculpture, Matthew Marks Greene Naftali Gallery, New York, York Time Again, Sculpture Center, Amsterdam Gallery, New York and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York The Quality of Presence, Chelsea Manifeste oder Ergriffenheit—was New York Source Codes, Sprüth Magers, Hotel, New York ist das? Frühe Standards seit 1960, De wereld deugt, wijzelf helaas 50 Jahre Documenta, 1955–2005, Berlin Distant Star/Estrella Distante, Galerie Daniel Blau, Munich wat minder; Ritsaert ten Cate, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel Into Me/Out of Me, P.S.1 Center Regen Projects, Los Angeles; OUT OF THE BLUE, Bortolami De Appel, Amsterdam for Contemporary Art, Long Strange Bodies: Figurative Works kurimanzutto, Mexico City Gallery, New York Bits ’n Pieces, Galerie Jöllenbeck, Mythologies, Walker Art Center, Island City, New York. Traveled from the Hirshhorn Collection, 2010 Cologne Klütterkammer: An Exhibition Minneapolis (2005–09) to: Kunst-Werke Institute for Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Dead Flowers, Vox Populi, Colors for a new home, Signs of Natural History, Carnegie Museum by John Bock, Institute of Contemporary Art—Gesellschaft Garden, Washington, D.C. Philadelphia. Traveled to: Love and other paintings, Alexander of Art, Pittsburgh The Object Sculpture, Henry Moore Contemporary Arts, London Das Menschenbild der Moderne, für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Berlin; Participant Inc., New York and Bonin, New York Institute, Leeds Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Der Mensch verlässt die Erde, Chambres d'Amis | Collection East Village USA, New Museum Duisburg, Germany Museo d’arte contemporanea Roma Kolumba—Kunstmuseum des Margins of Silence, The Helga de D'un autre monde, Printemps presentation, S.M.A.K., Ghent A document made by Paul Thek and of Contemporary Art, New York (2006–2007) Erzbistums Köln, Cologne Alvear Foundation, Caceres, Spain de Septembre, Toulouse Edwin Klein, Janos Gat Gallery, 2006 2013 New York L’Air du Temps, Migros Museum The Last Show, Cooper Union, 2007 2 x [ (2 x 20) + (2 x 2) ] + 2 = X 10,000 Lives, The 8th Gwangju HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Tell It To My Heart: Collected für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich Hewitt Memorial Building, New a point in space is a place for an x (desperately) trying to figure out Biennale, Korea DRAWINGS!, Alex Zachary by Julie Ault, Museum für Imagine, You Are Standing Here York argument, David Zwirner, New York the world, Mai 36 Galerie, Zurich Gallery, New York Gegenwartskunst, Basel; Culturgest, in Front of Me: Caldic Collectie, Mike Kelley—The Uncanny, Tate Dead Flowers, Vox Populi, Lisbon; Artists Space, New York Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Liverpool, England. Traveled to: Twice Drawn, The Frances Young Neolithic Porns, Isabella Bortolozzi Sammlung, 1978–2008, Migros Philadelphia; PARTICIPANT INC, Influential Friends by , Rotterdam Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Tang Teaching Museum and Art Galerie, Berlin Museum für Gegenwartskunst, New York John McWhinnie @ Glenn Horowitz The Polaroid Years: Instant Ludwig Wien, Vienna Gallery at Skidmore College, Zurich Bookseller, New York Photography and Experimentation, From the Observatory, Paula Saratoga Springs, New York Hold the Line, Ferenbalm Gurbrü Held Up By Columns, renwick Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Cooper Gallery, New York Stadtlicht—Lichtkunst, Wilhelm Station, Karlsruhe Sguardo periferico & corpo gallery, New York 2012 Vassar College, Poughkeepsie Lehmbruck Museum—Zentrum John Frumism, Hotel, London collettivo, Museion—Museum of Shock of the News, National Gallery 2003 Internationaler Skulptur, Duisburg, 13, International Project Space, Modern and Contemporary Art, Inside Installations, Stedelijk of Art, Washington, DC (2012–13) Paul Thek and his Circle in the Fuori Uso 2003: Great Germany Six Feet Under: Autopsie unseres Bournville Centre for Visual Arts, Bolzano Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent 1950s, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Expectations, Associazione Umgangs mit Toten, Kunstmuseum Birmingham Institute of Art and Art is Liturgy - Paul Thek and Gay and Lesbian Art, New York Culturale Arte Nova, Pescara, Italy 2005 Bern Design, England Oranges and Sardines: Keeping it Real: An exhibition in the Others, Kolumba, Art Museum editions, Alexander and Bonin, Conversations on Abstract Painting, Four Acts (Act 1: The Corporeal), of The Archdiocese of Cologne Bewitched, Bothered, and New York Transforming Chronologies: An Strange Weight, Martos Gallery, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles Whitechapel Gallery, London (2012–13) Bewildered: Spatial Emotion Atlas of Drawings, Part Two, The New York (2008–09) in Contemporary Art and Looking at Words: The Formal Museum of Modern Art, New York Never The Same River (Possible Affinity Atlas, Wellin Museum of Architecture, Migros Museum für Use of Text in Modern and The Third Mind—Carte Blanche 2009 Futures, Probable Pasts), Camden Art at Hamilton College, New York Gegenwartskunst, Zurich. Traveled Contemporary Works on Paper, Plane/Figure: Amerikanische à Ugo Rondinone, Palais de Tokyo, Whaddaya Wanna Be, a Flower?!, Arts Centre, London (2010–11) (2012–13) to: Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York Kunst aus Schweizer Paris Alexander and Bonin, New York Łaznia, Gdansk Privatsammlungen und aus Looking Back / The Fifth White The Perfect Show, 303 Gallery, Bidibidobidiboo: Works from dem Kunstmuseum Winterthur, 2008 Data Panic, Cuchifritos, New York Columns Annual - Selected by Bob New York (2012–13) Global Village: The 1960s, The Collezione Sandretto Re Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Life on Mars: 55th Carnegie Nickas, White Columns, New York Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Rebaudengo, Fondazione Sandretto Switzerland International, Carnegie Museum Hinterlassenschaft—Eine deutches (2010–11) Stimuli, Alexander and Bonin, Re Rebaudengo, Turin of Art, Pittsburgh Erbe, Kolumba—Kunstmuseum des New York (2012–13) My People Were Fair and Had Das achte Feld: Geschlechter, Erzbistums Köln, Cologne 2011 Cum in Their Hair, Team, New Document 2 and 3 made by Paul Leben, und Begehren der Kunst seit Traces du Sacré, , A document: Eugenio Dittborn, Sinister Pop, Whitney Museum of York Thek and Edwin Klein, Janos Gat 1960/The Eighth Square: Gender, Paris. Traveled to: Haus der Kunst, Compass in Hand: Selections from Emily Jacir, Paul Thek and Edwin American Art, New York (2012–13) Gallery, New York Life, and Desire in the Arts Since Munich (2008–09) The Judith Rothschild Foundation Klein, Alexander and Bonin, New 2004 1960, Ludwig Museum, Cologne Contemporary Drawings Collection, York (2011–12) First Among Equals, Institute of the gallery selects . . ., Alexander At years end, rethinking The Painting Now and Forever, Part II, The Museum of Modern Art, New Contemporary Art, Philadelphia

70 71 One Artist Exhibitions Selected Public Collections

1957 1971 1980 1989 Etchings, XX Multiple Galerie, 2004 Paul Thek: “If you don’t like this , Mirrell Gallery, Miami Pyramid/A Work in Progress, Small Paintings, Brooks Jackson The Technological Reliquaries, The Rotterdam Paintings 1980–1988, Mai 36 book you don’t like me,” Glasgow Pittsburgh Moderna Museet, Stockholm Gallery Iolas, New York Clocktower Gallery, New York Galerie, Zurich International Festival of Visual Art, Centre George Pompidou, Paris 1963 1996 The Modern Institute , Iowa Galleria 88, Rome 1972 1981 1990 A Station of the Cross, Museum 2005 Erzbischoefliches Diozesanmuseum, A Station of the Cross, Galerie M. cityscapes, seascapes, other ideas, Sculpture, 1965–1976, Brooke Boijmans Van Beuningen, Labor Sammlung: Exemplarische Paul Thek, in Process (Luzern), Cologne 1964 E. Thelen, Essen etc., Brooks Jackson Gallery Iolas, Alexander, New York Rotterdam Präsentation: Paul Thek Luzern, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland Federation of Migros, Zurich Stable Gallery, New York New York 1973/2005, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Greenville County Museum of Art, The Riderless Boat, Willard Skulpturen, 1968–1971, Galerie 1997 Lucerne 2013 South Carolina 1966 Gallery, New York A Procession in Honor of Aesthetic Jöllenbeck, Cologne Paul Thek, Diözesanmuseum Köln, Paul Thek, in Process (Stockholm), Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Paul Thek: Recent Work, Progress: Reconstruction of the first Cologne (organizer); exhibited at 2007 Moderna Museet, Stockholm Garden, Washington, D.C. Pace Gallery, New York 1973 solo exhibition in Germany 1968 in Galerie Samy Kinge, Paris Sankt Peter Kirche, Cologne Newspaper Paintings 1981–1983, Johnssen Collection, Essen Galerie Stähli Langenbacher und the Galerie M. E. Thelen, Galerie Alexander and Bonin, New York. Kunstmuseum, Bern 1967 Wankmüller, Lucerne Jöllenbeck, Cologne 1991 1998 Traveled to: Mai 36 Galerie, Zurich Kunstmuseum, Luzern The Tomb, Stable Gallery, Newspaper and Notebook Drawings, Paintings, Works on Paper and Los Angeles County Museum of Art New York Ark, Pyramid, Easter, 1982 Brooke Alexander, Notebooks 1970–1988, The Arts Paul Thek, Seamen’s Art Club, Ludwig Museum, Cologne Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne Brooks Jackson Iolas Gallery, New York Club of Chicago Hamburg Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, 1968 New York Rotterdam A Procession in Honor of Aesthetic Ark, Pyramid—Christmas, 1992 1999 Paul Thek:Werkschau im Museum Folkwang, Essen Progress: Objects to Theoretically aka Die Krippe [The Manger], Little Paintings, Galerie Samy Sculpture and Drawings, Selected Drawings, 1966–1988, Kontext zeitgenössischer Kunst, The Museum of Modern Art, Wear, Carry, Pull or Wave, Galerie Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Kinge, Paris Castello di Rivara - Centro d’Arte Alexander and Bonin, New York ZKM Center for Art and Media, New York M. E. Thelen, Essen Duisburg, Germany Contemporanea, Turin Karlsruhe. Traveled to: Sammlung Newark Museum, New Jersey 1983 Paul Thek, Camden Arts Centre, Falckenberg, Hamburg (2008); Philadelphia Museum of Art 1969 1974 Some New Works, Iolas-Jackson 1993 London. Traveled to: The Douglas Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Work in Progress at Brüsseler Galleria Schema, Florence, Italy Gallery, New York Paintings of the 1970s and 1980s, Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2000); Reina Sofía, Madrid (2009). Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Platz, Galerie M. E. Thelen, Essen; Brooke Alexander, New York Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall Greensboro, North Carolina 1976 1984 (2000) 2010 Whitney Museum of American Art, Decorations for a Tree, Wires The Personal Effects of the Pied Barbara Gladstone Gallery, Skulpturen und Zeichnungen, Diver, A Retrospective, Whitney New York and a Cross (The Artist’s Co-op), Piper, Galerie Alexandre Iolas, Paris New York 1964–1976, Mai 36 Galerie, Zurich 2000 Museum of American Art, New Galerie Mickery, Loenersloot, Mai 36 Galerie, Zurich York (2010–2011). Traveled The Netherlands 1977 Recent Works, Iolas-Jackson 1995 to: Carnegie Museum of Art, Small bronzes and drawings, Brooks Gallery, New York Paul Thek: The wonderful world 2001 Pittsburgh (2011); Hammer Stable Gallery, New York Jackson Gallery Iolas, New York that almost was, Witte de With, Galerie Ascan Crone, Berlin Museum, Los Angeles (2011). 1987 Center for Contemporary Art, The Procession/The Artist’s Co-op Paul Thek/Processions, Institute of Small Works, Mokotoff Gallery, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. 2002 Paul Thek: cityscapes and other (The Artist’s Co-op), Stedelijk Contemporary Art, University of New York Traveled to: Neue Nationalgalerie, “The chinaman erases my mind”: ideas, Alexander and Bonin, New Museum, Amsterdam Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Berlin (1995–96); Fundació Skulptur, Objekt, Malerei, York; Mai 36 Galerie, Zürich 1988 Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona (1996); Zeichnung, Galerie Jöllenbeck, 1970 Galleria Fante di Spada, Rome Selected Works 1987–1988, Brooke Kunsthalle Zürich/Museum für Cologne 2011 Crèche, Galerie Mickery, Alexander Inc., New York Gegenwartskunst, Zurich (1996); Prelude - Paul Thek in Process, Loenersloot, The Netherlands 1978 MAC Galeries Contemporaines des 2003 Another Vacant Space, Berlin Jack’s Procession: What’s Going Paul Thek, Greenville County Musées de Marseille (1996). Paul Thek: Paintings of the 1980s, Blackboard Drawings, Stable on Here?, Lijnbaancentrum, Museum of Art, South Carolina Alexander and Bonin, New York 2012 Gallery, New York Rotterdam Opere Scelte, Because I Love Paul Thek, in Process (Duisburg), Some New Works, Mokotoff Gallery, Rome Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Gallery, New York Germany

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Catalogue ©PACE LONDON, 2013 Text © Kenny Schachter

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