Paul Thek Retrospective at Whitney Museum

The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York presented a retrospective of Paul Thek from October 21, 2010 to January 9, 2011. Thek, who died of AIDS in 1988 at age 55, was a cult American artist whose career was marked by a tumultuous relationship with the art world. His early series Technological Reliquaries (1964-67), wax replicas of human flesh under plexiglass, gained immediate success. Works like Meat Piece with Warhol Brillo Box challenged minimalism and pop art. Thek spent significant time in Europe, particularly on the Italian island of Ponza, where he created mystical environments with his Artist Co-op, including The Tomb (1967), a full-body cast of himself as a corpse. The Whitney chose not to recreate his ephemeral environments, instead showing a wall fragment, a wax hand, photos, and text. After returning to New York in 1977, his work grew darker, featuring kitsch small-format paintings hung low with tiny school chairs. His 1985 painting Afflict the Comfortable, Comfort the Afflicted was a final statement. Thek influenced generations of artists including Mike Kelley, Robert Gober, Damien Hirst, Matthew Barney, Urs Fischer, and Matthew Day Jackson. Susan Sontag dedicated her essay Against Interpretation to him.