Lynn Zelevansky

As a label, "Experiments in Form" is pretty broad, and Zelevansky stretches it beyond the borders of utility by organizing a bewildering variety of artworks beneath it, from earthworks to concrete poetry, from Oiticica's capes to Xenakis' stochastic music. As a general catalog of interesting art from that time period, the book succeeds, but I'd have enjoyed it more if the organizing principle had felt more salient.

An American sculptor, painter, and installation artist, Paul Thek (1933--1988) is primarily known for hyper-realistic works of human body parts executed in fleshlike beeswax and for his strongly symbolic, room-size installations constructed from transitory materials. A major figure on the 1960s New York art scene, Thek also spent time in Europe, where he paved the way for artists adopting collaborative strategies. Although he gained a large following and was featured in more than one hundred show more solo and group exhibitions, the anti-establishment “artist’s artist” was practically forgotten at the time of his death.

Major exhibitions abroad and critical attention from younger artists have done much to revive his reputation, and Paul Thek: Diver expands on those efforts by bringing the artist’s resounding influence on the art world up to date. Published to accompany Thek’s first retrospective in the United States, this landmark publication includes nearly 300 chronologically arranged illustrations of sculptures, paintings, prints, and other works featured in the exhibition as well as four special “in-depth” image sections focusing on key installations, projects, and pages from the artist’s journals. An extensive selection of documentary photographs, many never before published, illuminate Thek’s artistic aesthetic and production process. With a bibliography, exhibition history, and checklist of works in the exhibition, this overdue acknowledgment of Thek’s brief, but broad-reaching career will be the authoritative volume on the artist for years to come. show less

held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Nov. 10 - 13, 1989, in conjunction with the Exhibition "Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism" shown Sept. 24, 1989 - January 16, 1990

Exhibition catalog Beyond geometry : experiments in form 1940s to 1970s June 13, 2004 to October 3, 2004, Los Angeles County Museum of Art