Artist: Paul Thek
Venue: Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles, US
Date: November 12, 2016 – January 7, 2017
Photography: Veli-Matti Hoikka, all images copyright and courtesy of © The Estate of George Paul Thek and Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles
Hannah Hoffman Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of works by the renowned American artist Paul Thek (1933-1988). This will mark the first solo gallery exhibition of the artist’s work in Los Angeles, and the most significant presentation of his work in L.A. since Paul Thek: Diver, a retrospective at the Hammer Museum in 2011. Beginning his career in New York primarily with painting, drawing and sculpture, Thek eventually became known in the 1960s for his immersive installations. From 1967 to 1976, Thek lived in Europe, where he began pioneering room-size environments. His works, often marked by fragile or ephemeral materials with regard to the personal, mystic, and spiritual, have been a source of widespread influence to artists such as Mike Kelley, Tony Oursler, and Robert Gober, amongst numerous others.
Paul Thek was born in Brooklyn in 1933. He studied at the Art Students League, the Pratt Institute, and Cooper Union School of Art in the early 1950s. In 1954, Thek moved to Miami and first exhibited his works in 1957 at Mirrel Gallery. He was the recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship in 1967 and National Endowment for the Arts Grant in 1976. Thek’s work has been shown at numerous exhibitions internationally, including The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago; The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; P.S.1 Center for Contemporary Art, New York; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Tate, London; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Reina Sofia, Madrid; Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg; and Moderna Museet. Stockholm. From 2010 through 2011, his retrospective traveled from the Whitney Museum of American Art to the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Hammer Museum. His work is in the collections of major American and European institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Centre Pompidou, Paris, and the Ludwig Museum, Cologne.
Paul Thek, Untitled (Whaddaya Wanna Be a Flower?), circa 1986, Ink on paper, 14 x 17 inches (35.6 x 43.2 cm)
Paul Thek, Untitled (Two Crescent Moons), 1983, Acrylic and gesso on newspaper, 23 x 27 inches (58.4 x 68.6 cm)
Paul Thek, Untitled (seascape), circa 1975, Acrylic on canvas mounted on linen, 9 3/4 x 12 3/4 inches (24.8 x 32.4 cm)
Paul Thek, Untitled (Meat Cable), 1968-69, Wax on steel cable with two turnbuckles, 168 x 3 x 2 1/2 inches (426.7 x 7.6 x 6.4 cm)
Paul Thek, Untitled (Meat Cable), 1968-69, Wax on steel cable with two turnbuckles, 168 x 3 x 2 1/2 inches (426.7 x 7.6 x 6.4 cm)
Paul Thek, Untitled (Meat Cable), 1968-69, Wax on steel cable with two turnbuckles, 168 x 3 x 2 1/2 inches (426.7 x 7.6 x 6.4 cm)
Paul Thek, Untitled (Meat Cable), 1968-69, Wax on steel cable with two turnbuckles, 168 x 3 x 2 1/2 inches (426.7 x 7.6 x 6.4 cm)
Paul Thek, Untitled (landscape with building 10/5/75), 1975, Pencil on paper, 11 3/4 x 16 inches (29.8 x 40.6 cm)
Paul Thek, Untitled (landscape 10/7/75), 1975, Pencil on paper, 14 1/3 x 19 inches (36.4 x 48.3 cm)
Paul Thek, Untitled (interior), circa 1973, Pencil on paper, 19 x 24 inches (48.3 x 61 cm)
Paul Thek, Untitled (studio interior), 1975, Pencil on paper, 14 1/8 x 19 inches (35.9 x 48.3 cm)
Paul Thek, Untitled (coast with trees), circa 1987, Watercolor on paper, 19 x 24 inches (48.3 x 61 cm)
Paul Thek, Untitled (6 studies), circa 1975, Pencil and watercolor on paper, 11 1/4 x 15 3/4 inches (28.6 x 40 cm)
Paul Thek, Untitled (5/9/70), 1970, Pencil on paper, 11 3/4 x 16 inches (29.8 x 40.6 cm)
Paul Thek, Untitled (9/27/75), 1975, Pencil on paper, 11 3/4 x 16 inches (29.8 x 40.6 cm)
Paul Thek, You Cannot Resist My Wave, 1979, Ballpoint on paper, 9 3/4 x 7 1/2 inches (24.8 x 19.1 cm)
Paul Thek, Dinosaur (Unfinished), 1975, Acrylic on newspaper, 22 3/4 x 33 1/4 inches (57.8 x 84.5 cm)
Paul Thek, Untitled (Red Triangles and Squiggles), 1984, Acrylic on canvas board, 24 x 30 inches (61 x 76.2 cm)
