Lot 539 D

„Thek began his career as a painter, but between 1963, when he began the „Meat Pieces“, and 1967, when he left for Europe, he produced no paintings and only a handful of drawings. In Europe, he began to draw and paint again, often on retreat to Ponza, the island off the coast of Italy he first visited in 1968 and that became a haven for him in Europe as Oakleyville had in the United States. In the 1960s and 1970s, Ponza was as primitive as Oakleyville was in the 1950s, and it provided the same exposure to nature and water. Thek's skill as a draughtsman is evident in sketches in graphite, ink, and watercolor that record his surroundings. In 1969, he began to paint on newspaper, generally on the International Herald Tribune or the Village Voice, which he called “working on my home soil.” (cited after Michael Nickel, in an interview with Lynn Zelevansky on October 12, 2008) He painted land- and seascapes as well as still lifes of food and small objects that appealed to him. He also painted hippopotamuses, dinosaurs, imaginary creatures like hot potatoes with arms and legs, lattices interspersed with grapes, and, later, abstract compositions.” (Lynn Zelevansky, Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries, The Life and Art of Paul Thek, in: Elisabeth Sussman and Lynn Zelevansky (ed.), Paul Thek, Diver, A Retrospective, exhib.cat. Whitney Museum of Amercian Art, New York and Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburg, New Haven and New York 2010, p.21)