World Food Books

Alessandro Di Pietro
Ghostwriting Paul Thek

2024, English / Italian
Softcover, 232 pages, 19 x 13 cm
Published by Mousse / Milan

$55.00 - In stock -

A compendium of texts and notes around the project developed by artist Alessandro Di Pietro in dialogue with the work of Paul Thek (1933-1988).

Alessandro Di Pietro: Ghostwriting Paul Thek, edited by Cornelia Mattiacci and Peter Benson Miller, is conceived as a compendium of texts and notes generated for the artist Alessandro Di Pietro as he developed the exhibition project Ghostwriting Paul Thek: Time Capsules and Reliquaries. The traveling exhibition—which appeared at the Watermill Center, New York; CAN Centre d'Art Neuchâtel, Switzerland; Palazzo Monti, Brescia, Italy; and Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio, Rome—presented pieces conceived in dialogue with the work of the legendary US artist Paul Thek.

The texts, notes, and other original sources featured in the volume—ranging from essays to WhatsApp messages, diary entries, and newspaper pages—are presented in the languages in which they were contributed by the twenty-five authors involved (English or Italian). They re-create the intellectual context for the development of Thek's/Di Pietro's intertwined ideas, blurring fact and fiction and maintaining a certain ambiguity of authorship. The publication's sole reprint comes from Chris Kraus's Aliens & Anorexia (2000).

Alessandro Di Pietro (born 1987) is an Italian visual artist those work is based on linguistic structures and cinematographic grammars, outlining methodologies that generate new narratives and production strategies through hybrid environments, inhabitants of monstrous plausible characters and non-objective technologies.

Edited by Cornelia Mattiacci and Peter Benson Miller.

Texts by Carlo Antonelli, Paisid Aramphongphan, Giulia Bini, Anna Castelli, Dustin Cauchi, Fabio Cherstich, Luigi Alberto Cippini, Guido Costa, Paul Cotton, Anna Cuomo, Allen Frame, Niccolò Gravina, Noah Khoshbin, Chris Kraus, Owen Laub, Cornelia Mattiacci, Peter Benson Miller, Massimo Minini, Susanne Neubauer, Leonie Radine, Federico Sargentone, Oliver Shultz, Stella Succi, Pier Mauro Tamburini, Jeppe Ugelvig.

File under: Alessandro Di Pietro Paul Thek Cornelia Mattiacci Peter Benson Miller Carlo Antonelli Paisid Aramphongphan Giulia Bini Anna Castelli Dustin Cauchi Fabio Cherstich Luigi Alberto Cippini Guido Costa Paul Cotton Anna Cuomo Allen Frame Niccolò Gravina Noah Khoshbin Chris Kraus Owen Laub Massimo Minini Susanne Neubauer Leonie Radine Federico Sargentone Oliver Shultz Stella Succi Pier Mauro Tamburini Jeppe Ugelvig. Mousse / Milan Sculpture / Installation Conceptual Art Theory / Essay Art

KITSCH 1 + 2 (all volumes)

1970/1971, French
Softcover, 2 volumes, unpaginated, 28.5 x 19 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Marie Concorde / Paris

$380.00 - Out of stock

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Both of the only volumes ever produced of this wonderful French avant-garde journal, published in Paris at the beginning of the 1970s. A visual manifesto against the prudishness of the times, KITSCH presented hundreds of illustrations of mostly erotic, fetish and fantastic/grotesque artwork by artists from all over the world, and spanning generations, with both issues wrapped in the most striking Tom Wesselmann covers. KITSCH 1 includes Toshio Saeki, Guido Crepax, Richard Linder, Robert Crumb, Guy Bourdin, Petr Herel, Hannes Jahn, Roman Cieślewicz, Ben Vautier, Christian Bour, Jacques Sternberg, Roland Topor, Jim, Allen Jones, Thomas Weir, alongside photo essays on upskirt polaroids, Satanik, Diabolik, fashion and more. KITSCH 2 includes Aslan, Roy Lichtenstein, Virgil Finlay, Jim Osborne, Ronald Lipking, Greg Irons, George Grosz, Egon Schiele, Mel Ramos, alongside photo essays on subjects such as "Pop Art", "Human Concern" and Paris' "Pigalle" district, further featuring work by H.C.Westermann, Paul Thek, Edward Keinholz, William Tunberg, Christian Schad, William Weegee, James Rosenquist, Frank Gallo, Tom Wesselmann, and many more.

Very good copies both, light wear.

File under: Toshio Saeki Guido Crepax Richard Linder Robert Crumb Guy Bourdin Petr Herel Hannes Jahn Roman Cieślewicz Ben Vautier Christian Bour Jacques Sternberg Roland Topor Jim Allen Jones Thomas Weir Aslan Roy Lichtenstein Virgil Finlay Jim Osborne Ronald Lipking Greg Irons George Grosz Egon Schiele Mel Ramos H.C.Westermann Paul Thek Edward Keinholz William Tunberg Christian Schad William Weegee James Rosenquist Frank Gallo Tom Wesselmann Christian Bour Jacques Sternberg Marie Concorde / Paris Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Eros Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Photography Pop Art Conceptual Art Art Counterculture Fetishism / BDSM Group Shows / Collections Out-of-print / Rare Sculpture / Installation Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction

The Uncanny
by Mike Kelley

1993, English
Softcover, 150 pages, 24 x 17 cm
1st UK Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Sonsbeek / Arnhem

$550.00 - Out of stock

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First 1993 edition of one of the great art books, by one of the great artists. This provocative, copiously illustrated catalogue by renowned American artist Mike Kelley is a meditation on Sigmund Freud's "Uncanny", and its relation to the grotesque in art and everyday life. Published to accompany the exhibition curated by Kelley as part of the "Sonsbeek 93" exhibition in Arnhem, The Netherlands, June 5 - September 26, 1993, Kelley presents (like a photo scrapbook) an arresting mix of modern and contemporary artists alongside bizarre figurative, prosthesis, animatronic, and mannequin-related imagery throughout history. Artists included : Hans Bellmer, Robert Gober, Tetsumi Kudo, Zoe Leonard, Paul McCarthy, Nayland Blake, John Miller, Bruce Nauman, Tony Oursler, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, Duane Hanson, Man Ray, Guillaume Bijl, Dennis Oppenheim, Edgar Degas, Piero Manzoni, Marcel Broodthaers, Goya, Nam June Paik, Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Dorothea Lange, Thom Puckey, Charles Ray, Edward Kienholz, Martin Kippenberger, Laurie Simmons, Jeff Koons, Yayoi Kusama, Paul Thek, Mike Kelley himself, and many more. Includes Kelley's accompanying essay, "Playing with Dead Things". The exhibition took on mythical status and was re-staged in Liverpool in 2004. The Uncanny has become one of the most desired of Kelley's books.

Very Good copy with only light cover wear.

File under: Hans Bellmer Robert Gober Tetsumi Kudo Zoe Leonard Paul McCarthy Nayland Blake Duane Hanson Edward Kienholz Martin Kippenberger Jeff Koons John Miller Bruce Nauman Tony Oursler Cindy Sherman Kiki Smith Paul Thek Mike Kelley Laurie Simmons Guillaume Bijl Thom Puckey Dennis Oppenheim Marcel Broodthaers Marcel Duchamp Man Ray Dorothea Lange Yayoi Kusama Francisco Goya Edgar Degas Nam June Paik Andy Warhol Mike Kelley Sonsbeek / Arnhem Art Sculpture / Installation Out-of-print / Rare Group Shows / Collections Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction Pop Art Surrealism Theory / Essay

Paul Thek
Paintings, Works on Paper and Notebooks 1970—1988

1989, English
Softcover, 32 pages, 19 x 14 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by The Arts Club of Chicago / Chicago

$150.00 - In stock -

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Seldom seen, rare exhibition catalogue, Paintings, Works on Paper and Notebooks 1970—1988, published in conjunction with the exhibition at The Arts Club of Chicago, December 3 1998—January 23 1999. Illustrated throughout in colour and b/w with essays by Kathy Cottong and Michael Klein. Also contains extensive chronology of Thek's life. This archive copy includes an inserted multi-page, stapled gallery press-release, plus a review clipping from the Chicago Reader of the exhibition.

VG—Near Fine copy.

File under: Paul Thek Kathy Cottong Michael Klein The Arts Club of Chicago / Chicago Sculpture / Installation Out-of-print / Rare Painting Drawing Art

Documenta 5
by Harald Szeemann

1972, German / English / French
Vinyl ring-binder (screen printed w. design by E. Ruscha), 650 pages +, 32 x 27 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by documenta / Kassel

$500.00 - Out of stock

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Scarce copy of the only edition of the most elaborately designed, and lowest circulated Documenta catalogue, conceived by curator Harald Szeemann to accompany the fifth edition of Documenta, a quinquennial contemporary art exhibition held in Kassel, Germany.

Subtitled "100 Days of Inquiry into Reality -- Today's Imagery," curated by the team of Harald Szeemann, Jean-Christophe Ammann and Arnold Bode, Documenta 5 followed a lineage of comprehensive shows documenting conceptually and minimally charged artworks curated by Szeemann including Live in Your Head (Kunsthalle Bern, 1969), and Happenings and Fluxus (Kunstverein, Köln), 1970. The largest, most expensive and most diverse of any exhibition anywhere, Documenta 5 was criticized in 1972 as being “bizarre…vulgar…sadistic” by art critic and essayist Hilton Kramer and “monstrous… overtly deranged” by art historian and art critic Barbara Rose, yet it still resonates today as one of the most important exhibitions in history. Featuring the works of over 170 artists and an equally expansive variety of materials and subjects drawn from popular cultural materials, architecture, science fiction, kitsch objects, film, advertising, children's art, etc. in addition to the more anticipated international survey of new painting and sculpture - Documenta 5 valiantly attempted to bridge the gap between art, culture, science and the broader society. This massive tome is housed in the iconic orange vinyl-covered, two-ring binder screen printed with the famous ant design by Edward Ruscha. The binder holds a tabbed index of illustrated artist's pages and associated texts and material, largely in German, but also many in English. All registers are present apart from the usual missing 19-25 which were not directly integrated into the catalogue and had to be ordered by the visitor separately to become their own contribution. This very complete copy also includes the additional 80 page, hole-punched Documenta 5 guide book, with floor plans, complete listing of exhibited artworks, list of exhibitions, bibliography, and many gallery, museum and other related advertisements. More than a catalogue, this publication is a piece of art history in itself.

Includes artists: Vito Acconci, Vincenzo Agnetti, Peter Alexander, John de Andrea, Giovanni Anselmo, Arbeitszeit, Archigram, Chuck Arnoldi, Art & Language, Richard Artschwager, Michael Ashkin, John Baldessari, Robert Barry, Georg Baselitz, Lothar Baumgarten, Robert Bechtle, Gottfried Bechtold, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Joseph Beuys, Karl Oskar Blase, Mel Bochner, Alighiero Boetti, Christian Boltanski, Claudio Bravo, George Brecht, K.P. Brehmer, Marcel Broodthaers, Stanley Brouwn, Günter Brus, Daniel Buren, Victor Burgin, Michael Buthe, James Lee Byars, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Luciano Castelli, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Chuck Close, Tony Conrad, Ron Cooper, Bill Copley, Joseph Cornell, Robert Cottingham, Paul Cotton, Hanne Darboven, Walter De Maria, David Deutsch, Jan Dibbets, Herbert Distel, Gino de Dominicis, Marcel Duchamp, John Dugger, Don Eddy, Franz Eggenschwiler, Ger van Elk, Richard Estes, Luciano Fabro, John C. Fernie, Robert Filliou, Jud Fine, Joel Fisher, Terry Fox, Howard Fried, Hamish Fulton, Franz Gertsch, Gilbert & George, Ralph Goings, Hubert Gojowczyk, Dan Graham, Walter Grasskamp, Nancy Graves, Hans Haacke, Duane Hanson, Guy Harloff, Michael Harvey, Haus-Rucker-Co, Auguste Herbin, Eva Hesse, Rebecca Horn, Jean Olivier Hucleux, Douglas Huebler, Jörg Immendorff, Will Insley, Rolf Iseli, Ken Jacobs, Neil Jenney, Alfred Jensen, Jasper Johns, Joan Jonas, Max G. Kaminski, Howard Kanovitz, Edward Kienholz, Imi Knoebel, Christof Kohlhofer, Jannis Kounellis, Tom Kovachevich, Piotr Kowalski, David Lamelas, Barry Le Va, Jean LeGac, Alfred Leslie, Sol LeWitt, Richard Long, Ingeborg Luscher, Inge Mahn, Robert Mangold, Brice Marden, Agnes Martin, Etienne Martin, Richard McLean, David Medalla, Fernando Melani, Jim Melchert, Mario Merz, Gustav Metzger, Bernd Minnich, Malcolm Morley, Ed Moses, Bruce Nauman, Hermann Nitsch, Claes Oldenburg, Yoko Ono, Dennis Oppenheim, Blinky Palermo, Panamarenko, Giulio Paolini, A.R. Penck, Giuseppe Penone, Vettor Pisani, Sigmar Polke, Stephen Posen, Markus Raetz, Arnulf Rainer, Gerhard Richter, Klaus Rinke, Dorothea Rockburne, Peter Roehr, Allen Ruppersberg, Edward Ruscha, Reiner Ruthenbeck, Ulrich Ruckriem, Robert Ryman, John Salt, Salvo, Lucas Samaras, Paul Sarkisian, Jean-Frederic Schnyder, Ben Schonzeit, Werner Schroeter, HA Schult, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Fritz Schwegler, Richard Serra, Paul Sharits, Allan Shields, Katharina Sieverding, Robert Smithson, Michael Snow, Keith Sonnier, Klaus Staeck, Paul Staiger, Jorge Stever, Robert Strubin, Paul Thek, Wayne Thiebaud, Andre Thomkins, David Tremlett, Richard Tuttle, Ben Vautier, W + B Hein, Franz Erhard Walther, Robert Watts, William Wegman, Lawrence Weiner, John Wesley, H.C. Westermann, William Wiley, Rolf Winnewisser, Tom Wudl, Klaus Wyborny, La Monte Young, Peter Young, Gilberto Zorio.

Catalogue also includes Bob Projansky and Seth Siegelaub's "The Artist's Reserved Rights Transfer and Sale Agreement." This "Agreement form has been drafted by Bob Projansky, a New York lawyer, after my [Siegelaub] extensive discussions and correspondence with over 500 artists, dealers, lawyers, collectors, museum people, critics and other concerned people involved in the day-to-day workings of the international art world. The Agreement has been designed to remedy some generally acknowledged inequities in the art world, particularly artists' lack of control over the use of their work and participation in its economics after they no longer own it. The Agreement for has been written with special awareness of the current ordinary practices and economic realitites of the art world, particularly its private, cash and informal nature, with careful regard for the interests and motives of all concerned. It is expected to be the standard form for the transfer and sale of all contemporary art, and has been made as fair, simple and useful as possible. It can be used either as presented here or slightly altered to fit your specific situation. If the following information does not answer all your questions consult your attorney." -- from Agreement's cover. Copies of the contract are individually included in English, Germany, and French editions.

Very Good, complete (as issued) copy. Very minor wear.

File under: Vito Acconci Vincenzo Agnetti Peter Alexander John de Andrea Giovanni Anselmo Arbeitszeit Archigram Chuck Arnoldi Art & Language Richard Artschwager Michael Ashkin John Baldessari Robert Barry Georg Baselitz Lothar Baumgarten Robert Bechtle Gottfried Bechtold Joseph Beuys Karl Oskar Blase Mel Bochner Alighiero Boetti Christian Boltanski Claudio Bravo George Brecht Marcel Broodthaers Stanley Brouwn Günter Brus Daniel Buren Victor Burgin Michael Buthe James Lee Byars Pier Paolo Calzolari Luciano Castelli Chuck Close Tony Conrad Ron Cooper Bill Copley Joseph Cornell Robert Cottingham Paul Cotton Hanne Darboven Walter De Maria David Deutsch Jan Dibbets Herbert Distel Gino de Dominicis Marcel Duchamp John Dugger Don Eddy Franz Eggenschwiler Ger van Elk Richard Estes Luciano Fabro John C. Fernie Robert Filliou Jud Fine Joel Fisher Terry Fox Howard Fried Hamish Fulton Franz Gertsch Gilbert & George Ralph Goings Hubert Gojowczyk Dan Graham Walter Grasskamp Nancy Graves Hans Haacke Duane Hanson Guy Harloff Michael Harvey Haus-Rucker-Co Auguste Herbin Eva Hesse Rebecca Horn Jean Olivier Hucleux Douglas Huebler Jörg Immendorff Will Insley Rolf Iseli Ken Jacobs Neil Jenney Alfred Jensen Jasper Johns Joan Jonas Max G. Kaminski Howard Kanovitz Edward Kienholz Imi Knoebel Christof Kohlhofer Jannis Kounellis H.C. Westermann William Wiley Rolf Winnewisser Tom Wudl Klaus Wyborny La Monte Young Peter Young Gilberto Zorio Franz Erhard Walther Robert Watts William Wegman Lawrence Weiner John Wesley Tom Kovachevich Piotr Kowalski David Lamelas Barry Le Va Jean LeGac Alfred Leslie Richard Long Ingeborg Lüscher Inge Mahn Brice Marden Yoko Ono Dennis Oppenheim Blinky Palermo Panamarenko Giulio Paolini A.R. Penck Giuseppe Penone Vettor Pisani Sigmar Polke Stephen Posen Markus Raetz Arnulf Rainer Gerhard Richter Klaus Rinke Dorothea Rockburne Peter Roehr Allen Ruppersberg Edward Ruscha Reiner Ruthenbeck Ulrich Ruckriem Robert Ryman John Salt Salvo Lucas Samaras Paul Sarkisian Jean-Frederic Schnyder Ben Schonzeit Werner Schroeter HA Schult Rudolf Schwarzkogler Fritz Schwegler Richard Serra Paul Sharits Allan Shields Katharina Sieverding Robert Smithson Michael Snow Keith Sonnier Klaus Staeck Paul Staiger Jorge Stever Robert Strubin Paul Thek Malcolm Morley Ed Moses Bruce Nauman Hermann Nitsch Claes Oldenburg Agnes Martin Etienne-Martin Richard McLean David Medalla Fernando Melani Bernd and Hilla Becher K. P. Brehmer Christo & Jeanne-Claude Seth Siegelaub Harald Szeemann Jean-Christophe Ammann Bob Projansky Arnold Bode documenta / Kassel Art Group Shows / Collections Out-of-print / Rare Objects / Ephemera / A/V Arte Povera Conceptual Art Feminism Theory / Essay Architecture / Interior Performance / Dance / Theater Fluxus Dada Curatorial Film / Video Minimal Art Nouveau Réalisme / Zero / Kinetic Painting Photography Pop Art Sculpture / Installation Counterculture Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic

Responses to Untitled (eye with comet)(c.1985) by Paul Thek

2023, English
Softcover, 196 pages, 19 x 14 cm
Published by Pilot Press / London

$40.00 - Out of stock

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For this volume of Pilot Press' Responses series, responses were sought to the painting Untitled (eye with comet) by Paul Thek. The work was found in his storage after his death from AIDS in 1988.

Contributors: E.R. De Siqueira, Ben Estes, João Motta Guedes, Lucy Swan, Jon Rainford, Louis Shankar, Amy Evans Bauer, Hattie Morrison, Sammy Paloma, AN Grace, James Horton, Nick Wood, Sophie Paul, Jae Vail, Elizabeth Zvonar, Lars Meijer, Clay AD, Michel Kessler, Pablo Miguel Martínez, Emma Harris, Dylan McNulty-Holmes, Kitya Mark, Katherine Franco, Ainslie Templeton, Alistair McCartney, John Brooks, Jesse Howarth, jimmy cooper, Felix Pilgrim, Nicholas Chittenden Morgan, Murphy O’Neir, Rachel Cattle, Isabel Nolan, Susan Finlay, Ted Simonds, Brooke Palmieri, Kate Morgan, Ashleigh A. Allen, Diogo Gama, JP Seabright, Hugo Hagger, Amanda Kraley, Brendan Cook, Matt Bailey, Charlotte Flint, Rodney Schreiner, Lucy Price, Morgan Melhuish, Jordan Weitzman, Jaakko Pallasvuo, Alex Fiorentino, Harald Smart, Marguerite Carson, loll jung, Richard Porter. Nicholas Kalinoski, Hedi El Kholti, Edmund Francis English, Ted Bonin

File under: Paul Thek Pilot Press / London Theory / Essay Fiction / Poetry Painting Art LGBTQ+

PAUL THEK / COMME des GARCONS (lot of 9)
2017—18 collections

2017—2018, English
Softcover (staple-bound) pamphlets, various pagination, 42 x 20.4 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Comme des Garçons / Tokyo

$320.00 - Out of stock

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Large lot of the printed collaboration between Rei Kawakubo's Comme des Garçons and the estate of American artist Paul Thek. Issued as mail-outs privately by Comme to announce the arrival of each of their 2017—18 collections, and not commercially available, these gorgeous, over-sized, elaborate fold-out leaflets designed by CDG showcase Thek's artworks (paintings, installations, drawings, sculptures, photography, etc) in a series of graphic collaged publications, made possible by Robert Wilson's Watermill Centre and Alexander and Bonin. Very Good, preserved copies, issued and collected individually, now very scarce. A couple with original b/w CDG mailers/envelopes included (not pictured). Included are the publications/posters numbered #1, #2, #5, #9, #10, #12, #16, #21, #23.

American artist Paul Thek (1933-1988) was an elusive sculptor, painter, and one of the first artists to create environments or installations, who came to recognition showing his sculpture in New York galleries in the 1960s. The first works exhibited, which he began making in 1964 and called “meat pieces” as they were meant to resemble flesh, were encased in Plexiglas boxes that recall Minimal sculptures. At the end of the sixties, Thek left for Europe, where he created extraordinary environments, incorporating elements from art, literature, theater, and religion, often employing fragile and ephemeral substances, including wax and latex. His work was presented at documenta 4 and 5 in Kassel (1968, 1972), the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (1969), the Moderna Museet in Stockholm (1971), and the Kunstmuseum in Lucerne (1973). He was supported in particular by Harald Szeemann and Jean-Christophe Ammann. In 1977, Suzanne Delehanty curated Processions at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, marking the first solo exhibition of Paul Thek's work in an American institution. At the close of the 1970's Thek changed direction, moved back to New York, and turned to the making of small, sketch-like paintings on canvas, although he continued to create environments in key international exhibitions. With his frequent use of highly perishable materials, Thek accepted the ephemeral nature of his art works—and was aware, as writer Gary Indiana has noted, of “a sense of our own transience and that of everything around us.” Following his death in 1988, his work was mainly shown in Europe (Castello di Rivara, Witte de With, etc). In 2008, the ZKM in Karlsruhe programmed Paul Thek Artist's Artist, which also explored how Thek's work has resonated in the contemporary scene. On the other side of the Atlantic, it wasn't until 2010 that the Whitney Museum in New York dedicated a remarkable retrospective to Thek, whose title, Paul Thek: Diver, emphasized the artist's passion for the sea.

Very Good copies each.

File under: Paul Thek Comme des Garçons Rei Kawakubo Robert Wilson Comme des Garçons / Tokyo Objects / Ephemera / A/V Sculpture / Installation Painting Drawing Fashion Out-of-print / Rare Art

Environments and Happenings
Edited by Adrian Henri

1974, English
Softcover, 216 pages, 21 x 16 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Thames and Hudson / London

$30.00 - In stock -

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Environments and Happenings by painter and poet Adrian Henri, published by Thames & Hudson in 1974, forms one of the first mainstream book surveys to trace the phenomenon of environmental/performative/total living artworks that became prevalent in the 1960s/70s. This historical study is profusely illustrated in colour and b/w with many international works from Fluxus to Zero to Dolle Mina to Nouveau Réalisme to Provo to Gutai to The Situationists and much more. Includes the works of Joseph Beuys, Clarence Schmidt, Ray Johnson, Öyvind Fahlström, Paul Thek, Yves Klein, Allan Kaprow, Hans Haacke, Kurt Schwitters, Marcel Duchamp, Guerllia Art Action Group, Daniel Spoerri, Wolf Vostell, Gustav Metzger, Peter Kuttner, Jackson Pollock, Alison Knowles, Dick Higgins, Robert Morris, Situationist International, Ferdinand Kriwet, Klaus Rinke, Duane Hanson, A-Yo, Meret Oppenheim, Space Structure Workshop, Ferdinand Cheval, Dolle Mina (Mad Mina), Robert Smithson, Jeff Nuttall, Stefan Wewerka, Christo, Dennis Oppenheim, Vladimir Tatlin, Provo, Barry Flanagan, Andy Warhol, Meredith Monk, Atsuko Tanaka, Kazuo Shiraga, Ed Keinholz, Yayoi Kusama, Piero Gilardi, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Claes Oldenburg, Les Levine, James Rosenquist, Red Grooms, Tom Wesselmann, George Segal, Eduardo Paolozzi, and many many more. Includes reproductions of performance scripts, partial chronology, etc.

Very Good copy, previous owner name to front endpaper.

File under: Guerilla Art Action Group Joseph Beuys Clarence Schmidt Ray Johnson Öyvind Fahlström Paul Thek Yves Klein Hans Haacke Kurt Schwitters Marcel Duchamp Guerllia Art Action Group Daniel Spoerri Wolf Vostell Gustav Metzger Peter Kuttner Jackson Pollock Alison Knowles Dick Higgins Robert Morris Situationist International Ferdinand Kriwet Klaus Rinke Duane Hanson A-Yo Meret Oppenheim Space Structure Workshop Ferdinand Cheval Dolle Mina (Mad Mina) Robert Smithson Jeff Nuttall Stefan Wewerka Christo Dennis Oppenheim Vladimir Tatlin Provo Barry Flanagan Andy Warhol Meredith Monk Atsuko Tanaka Kazuo Shiraga Ed Keinholz Yayoi Kusama Piero Gilardi Niki de Saint-Phalle Jean Tinguely Claes Oldenburg Les Levine James Rosenquist Red Grooms Tom Wesselmann George Segal Eduardo Paolozzi Allan Kaprow Adrian Henri Thames and Hudson / London Sculpture / Installation Out-of-print / Rare Performance / Dance / Theater Fluxus Arte Povera Conceptual Art Art Dada Counterculture Curatorial Group Shows / Collections Painting Pop Art Nouveau Réalisme / Zero / Kinetic Surrealism Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic Sound / Music

Paul Thek
Artist's Artist

2009, English
Hardcover, 550 pages, 22 x 28 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by The MIT Press / Massachusetts

$400.00 - Out of stock

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First edition of the scarce, highly sought after, and most comprehensive book ever published on American artist Paul Thek, published in 2009 by MIT Press. Edited by Harald Falckenberg and Peter Weibel, this enormous 550 page monograph contains more than 300 works by this groundbreaking artist, documenting his journey from legendary outsider to central figure in many contemporary art movements.

Paul Thek occupied a place between high art and low art, between the epic and the everyday. During his brief life (1933-1988), he went against the grain of art world trends, humanizing the institutional spaces of art with the force of his humor, spirituality, and character. Twenty years after Thek's death from AIDS, we can now recognize his influence on contemporary artists ranging from Vito Acconci and Bruce Nauman to Matthew Barney, Mike Kelley, and Paul McCarthy, as well as Kai Althoff, Jonathan Meese, and Thomas Hirschhorn. This book brings together more than 300 of Thek's works—many of which are published here for the first time—to offer the most comprehensive display of his work yet seen. The book, which accompanies an exhibition at ZKM ? Museum of Contemporary Art presenting Thek's work in dialogue with contemporary art by young artists, includes painting, sculpture, drawing, and installation work, as well as photographs documenting the room-size environments into which Thek incorporated elements from art, literature, theater, and religion. These works chart Thek's journey from legendary outsider to foundational figure in contemporary art. In their antiheroic diversity, Thek's works embody the art revolution of the 1960s; indeed, Susan Sontag dedicated her classic Against Interpretation to him. Thek's treatment of the body in such works as “Technological Reliquaries,” with their castings and replicas of human body parts, tissue, and bones, both evoke the aura of Christian relics and anticipate the work of Damien Hirst. The book, with more than 500 images (300 in colour) and nineteen essays by art historians, curators, collectors, and artists, investigates Thek's work on its own terms, and as a starting point for understanding the work of the many younger artists Thek has influenced.

Essays by Jean-Christophe Ammann, Margrit Brehm, Bazon Brock, Suzanne Delehanty, Harald Falckenberg, Marietta Franke, Stefan Germer, Kim Gordon, Roland Groenenboom, Axel Heil, Gregor Jansen, Mike Kelley, John Miller, Susanne Neubauer, Kenny Schachter, Harald Szeemann, Annette Tietenberg, Peter Weibel, Ann Wilson.

Good copy with heavy tanning to spine and covers (esp. fluro spot colour), some bumping to cover corners, light page edge tanning. Internally Very Good, clean throughout.

File under: Paul Thek Harald Falckenberg Peter Weibel Jean-Christophe Ammann Margrit Brehm Bazon Brock Suzanne Delehanty Marietta Franke Stefan Germer Kim Gordon Roland Groenenboom Axel Heil Gregor Jansen Mike Kelley John Miller Susanne Neubauer Kenny Schachter Harald Szeemann Annette Tietenberg Ann Wilson The MIT Press / Massachusetts Arte Povera Sculpture / Installation Out-of-print / Rare Painting Drawing Performance / Dance / Theater Art Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic

Paul Thek
Diver : A Retrospective

2010, English
Hardcover (w. dustjacket), 304 pages, 24.8 x 28.4 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / fine
Published by Yale University Press / New Haven

$220.00 - Out of stock

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Now well out-of-print, the incredible Paul Thek monograph, was published by Yale University Press in 2010 to accompany Thek's first retrospective in the United States, at the Whitney Museum in New York.

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 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.

Edited by Lynn Zelevansky and Elisabeth Sussman, Contributions by George Baker, David Breslin, Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, Eleonora Nagy, Susanne Neubauer, Michael Nickel, Scott Rothkopf, Ann Wilson

Very Good—Fine copy in VG dust jacket.

File under: Paul Thek Lynn Zelevansky Elisabeth Sussman George Baker David Breslin Carol Mancusi-Ungaro Eleonora Nagy Susanne Neubauer Michael Nickel Scott Rothkopf Ann Wilson Yale University Press / New Haven Art Painting Sculpture / Installation Drawing Out-of-print / Rare Performance / Dance / Theater

Paul Thek
Italian Hours

2023, English / Italian
Softcover, 112 pages, 21 x 28 cm
Published by Humboldt Books / Milan

$50.00 - In stock -

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A collection of works reflecting the influence of Italy on Paul Thek's artistic trajectory, with several contributions highlighting his Italian period.

Paul Thek's Italian experiences between 1962 and 1976 left a deep mark on his sensitivity. From his visits to the Capuchin Catacombs to his witnessing of spectacular religious processions, Italy was a catalyst for several key moments in the artist's career, triggering an elusive reaction in his practice to the trajectories of post-war American art. By reworking the stimuli gathered during his stays in Rome, on the island of Ponza and in Sicily, Paul Thek concocted a baroque response to Pop Art and Minimalism, which were dominant on the art scene of the time.

Paul Thek. Italian Hours brings together a selection of paintings, drawings and sculptures through photographs by Peter Hujar, presented in the exhibition of the same name at the Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio in Rome. The critical text by Peter Benson Miller, curator of the exhibition, highlights Thek's meaningful dialogue with a group of artists linked to gallery owner Topazia Alliata who were working in Italy at the time, including Cy Twombly and Piero Manzoni. A conversation between Watermill Center curator Owen Laub and theatre director Robert Wilson completes the volume.

A recognized figure on the American art scene, Paul Thek (1933-1988) produced an astonishingly diverse body of work (drawings, sculptures, paintings, installations and environments) that is consistent with his image as an elusive artist, perpetually on the move. During his lifetime, Thek was exhibited by the most important New York galleries (Stable Gallery, Pace Gallery). His work was also presented at documenta 4 and 5 in Kassel (1968, 1972), the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (1969), the Moderna Museet in Stockholm (1971), and the Kunstmuseum in Lucerne (1973). He was supported in particular by Harald Szeemann and Jean-Christophe Ammann. In 1977, Suzanne Delehanty curated Processions at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, marking the first solo exhibition of Paul Thek's work in an American institution. Following his death in 1988, his work was mainly shown in Europe. First in 1992, in Italy, with the Paul Thek exhibition at Castello di Rivara. Then, in 1995, Paul Thek – The Wonderful World That Almost Was opened in Rotterdam at the Witte de With and subsequently traveled to Berlin, Barcelona, Zurich and Marseille. In 2008, the ZKM in Karlsruhe programmed Paul Thek Artist's Artist, which also explored how Thek's work has resonated in the contemporary scene. On the other side of the Atlantic, it wasn't until 2010 that the Whitney Museum in New York dedicated a remarkable retrospective to Thek, whose title, Paul Thek: Diver, emphasized the artist's passion for the sea.

Texts by Nicola Del Roscio, Peter Benson Miller, Owen Laub, Robert Wilson.
Graphic design: Francesca Biagiotti.

File under: Paul Thek Nicola Del Roscio Peter Benson Miller Owen Laub Robert Wilson Humboldt Books / Milan Arte Povera Art Painting Drawing Sculpture / Installation

Paul Thek
Processions

1977, English
Softcover, 64 pages, 26 x 32 cm
Edition of 2000,
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by ICA / Pennsylvania

$280.00 - Out of stock

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The great, and very rare, Paul Thek "Processions" catalogue from 1977.

"Processions (: The Tower of Babel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Bandwagon, The Burning Bridge, Bo Jangles, Jack Lantern, Paul Thek, Zhivago)" was published on the occasion of the exhibition "Paul Thek -
Processions" at the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 30 October to 4 December 1977. This handsome, heavily illustrated catalogue is a very important title in the history of Thek's work as it was the only published document dedicated to his immersive, site-specific installations. Selected and arranged by Thek with curator Suzanne Delehanty, these pages help capture the most conceptually complicated and complete environments created by Thek to that date, including The Tomb-Death of a Hippie (1967), A Procession in Honor of Aesthetic Progress... (1968), The Procession/The Artist's Co-op (1969), Pyramid/A Work in Progress (1971-72), A Station of the Cross (1972), Ark, Pyramid (1972), Ark, Pyramid, Easter (1973), and more, along with his Technological Reliquaries (1965-1967), Fishman (1968), works on paper and bronze sculpture (1973-1977), list of exhibitions, bibliography, text by Suzanne Delehanty and more.

A must for any Thek collection. Published once in an edition of 2000 copies. Now very rarely seen.

File under: Paul Thek Suzanne Delehanty ICA / Pennsylvania Art Out-of-print / Rare Sculpture / Installation Painting

Paul Thek
(SM)

1969, English / Dutch
Illustrated 10-page fold-out (w. loose leaf inserts), 27 × 83 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Stedelijk Museum / Amsterdam

$240.00 - In stock -

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Extremely rare early Paul Thek Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam catalogue, published in 1969. Designed by Wim Crouwel (Total Design) in the form of a 10-page illustrated leporello fold-out of Thek's installations and sculptures and published with SM no. 460. One of the hardest of all Stedelijk Museum catalogues to find, this copy comes complete with the often missing SM biographical/interview/text insert, and also the loose strip inlay with text advertising ‘a document made by Paul Thek and Edwin Klein’ (published that same year), making it a most complete copy available.

Very Good-Fine with all included, preserved in plastic sleeve.

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 solo and group exhibitions, the anti-establishment "artist's artist" was practically forgotten at the time of his death from AIDS related illness in New York City in 1988, aged 54.

File under: Paul Thek Total Design (TD) Wim Crouwel Stedelijk Museum / Amsterdam Objects / Ephemera / A/V Out-of-print / Rare Sculpture / Installation Painting Drawing Art

Mike Kelley
Foul Perfection : Essays and Criticism

2003, English
Softcover, 258 pages, 20.3 x 22.5 cm
Published by The MIT Press / Massachusetts

$65.00 - Out of stock

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Critical writings and commentary by the Los Angeles based artist Mike Kelley.

The work of artist Mike Kelley (b. 1954) embraces performance, installation, drawing, painting, video, and sculpture. Drawing distinctively on high art and vernacular traditions, including historical research, popular culture, and psychology, Kelley came to prominence in the 1980s with a series of sculptures composed of craft materials. His recent work offers dialogues with architecture and with repressed memory syndrome, and a sustained inquiry into his own aesthetic and social history. The subjects on which Kelley has written are as varied as his artistic media. They include the work of fellow artists, sound, caricature, the uncanny, UFOlogy, and gender-bending.

This book offers a diverse collection of Kelley's writings from the last twenty-five years. It contains major critical texts on art, film, and the wider culture, including his piece on the aesthetic he calls "urban Gothic." It also contains essays, mostly commissioned for exhibition catalogs and journals, on the artists and groups David Askevold, OEyvind Fahlstroem, Douglas Huebler, John Miller, Survival Research Laboratories, and Paul Thek, among others. Kelley's voices are passionate, analytic, and ironic, and his critical intelligence is leavened with touches of whimsy.

“This collection proves that [Kelley] has not only helped write history but has had an effect on it.” — Diedrich Diederichsen, Artforum

File under: David Askevold Douglas Huebler John Miller Mike Kelley Paul Thek Survival Research Laboratories Divine Öyvind Fahlström John C. Welchman Mike Kelley The MIT Press / Massachusetts Art Film / Video Painting Performance / Dance / Theater Sculpture / Installation Sound / Music Theory / Essay

Newspaper
Steve Lawrence, Peter Hujar, Andrew Ullrick

2023, English
Softcover, 416 pages
Published by Primary Information / New York

$84.00 - Out of stock

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Published by Steve Lawrence and edited with Peter Hujar and Andrew Ullrick, Newspaper was published in New York City between 1968 and 1971.

Newspaper was a wordless, picture-only periodical that ran for fourteen issues and featured the disparate practices of over forty artists. With an editorial focus on placing appropriated material alongside new works, the periodical sought to codify a visual language of high and low culture that represented contemporary society in the late 1960s. While largely overlooked in art-historical discourse, Newspaper showcased many of the most revered artists working in the United States at the time, as well as an emerging coterie of queer artists.

The mid to late sixties was a flourishing period for artists experimenting with new media formats such as books, records, and magazines to create or distribute their work. Newspaper was one of the first artist-published tabloids of its era, preceding Andy Warhol’s Interview and Les Levine’s Culture Hero, both of which debuted in 1969. However, in contrast to other tabloids, Newspaper focused strictly on images.

At a time when photography was not being exhibited regularly in galleries, Newspaper provided an alternative exhibition space for the medium and some of the era’s greatest photographers. The publication’s large size and unbound format encouraged readers to take it apart and hang its pages, which was how Newspaper was installed at the Museum of Modern Art’s influential Information show in 1970.

This is not to say that Newspaper only existed within the narrow confines of the art world, far from it. It lived within (and shared contributors with) a robust network of underground and queer periodicals like The New York Review of Sex, Rags, and Gay Power, among others. Yet, unlike many of these tabloids, Newspaper has largely disappeared from the discourse around underground magazines, queer publishing, and artists’ periodicals.

All fourteen issues of Newspaper are compiled in this volume for the first time.

Featured artists include: Diane Arbus, Art Workers Coalition, Richard Avedon, Clyde Baines, Sheyla Baykal, Peter Beard, Brigid Berlin, Richard Bernstein, Ann Douglas, Paul Fisher, Maurice Hogenboom, Peter Hujar, Scott Hyde, Christo and Jeanne-Claude Javacheff, Ray Johnson, Edwin Klein, Yayoi Kusama, Gerald Laing, Dorothea Lange, Steve Lawrence, Jeff Lew, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Mercado, Duane Michals, Jack Mitchell, Forrest “Frosty” Myers, Billy Name, Stephen Paley, Warner Pearson, Jurgen Warner Piepke, Charles Pratt, Joseph Raffael, Mel Ramos, Lilo Raymond, Ruspoli-Rodriguez, Lucas Samaras, Alan Saret, Bill Schwedler, Leni Sinclair, Norman Snyder, Elizabeth Staal, Stanley Stellar, Terry Stevenson, Paul Thek, Andrew Ullrick, Andy Warhol, William T. Wiley, and May Wilson.

Editor: Marcelo Gabriel Yáñez
Managing Editor: James Hoff
Designer: Rick Myers
Copy editor: Allison Dubinsky

File under: Diane Arbus Art Workers Coalition Richard Avedon Clyde Baines Sheyla Baykal Peter Beard Brigid Berlin Richard Bernstein Ann Douglas Paul Fisher Maurice Hogenboom Peter Hujar Scott Hyde Christo and Jeanne-Claude Javacheff Ray Johnson Edwin Klein Yayoi Kusama Gerald Laing Dorothea Lange Steve Lawrence Jeff Lew Roy Lichtenstein Frank Mercado Duane Michals Jack Mitchell Forrest “Frosty” Myers Billy Name Stephen Paley Warner Pearson Jurgen Warner Piepke Charles Pratt Joseph Raffael Mel Ramos Lilo Raymond Ruspoli-Rodriguez Lucas Samaras Alan Saret Bill Schwedler Leni Sinclair Norman Snyder Elizabeth Staal Stanley Stellar Terry Stevenson Paul Thek Andrew Ullrick Andy Warhol William T. Wiley May Wilson Rick Myers Primary Information / New York Art Photography Conceptual Art Pop Art LGBTQ+ Counterculture

Paul Thek
Artist's Artist

2009, English
Hardcover, 550 pages, 22 x 28 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by The MIT Press / Massachusetts

$420.00 - Out of stock

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First edition of the scarce, highly sought after, and most comprehensive book ever published on American artist Paul Thek, published in 2009 by MIT Press. Edited by Harald Falckenberg and Peter Weibel, this enormous 550 page monograph contains more than 300 works by this groundbreaking artist, documenting his journey from legendary outsider to central figure in many contemporary art movements.

Paul Thek occupied a place between high art and low art, between the epic and the everyday. During his brief life (1933-1988), he went against the grain of art world trends, humanizing the institutional spaces of art with the force of his humor, spirituality, and character. Twenty years after Thek's death from AIDS, we can now recognize his influence on contemporary artists ranging from Vito Acconci and Bruce Nauman to Matthew Barney, Mike Kelley, and Paul McCarthy, as well as Kai Althoff, Jonathan Meese, and Thomas Hirschhorn. This book brings together more than 300 of Thek's works—many of which are published here for the first time—to offer the most comprehensive display of his work yet seen. The book, which accompanies an exhibition at ZKM ? Museum of Contemporary Art presenting Thek's work in dialogue with contemporary art by young artists, includes painting, sculpture, drawing, and installation work, as well as photographs documenting the room-size environments into which Thek incorporated elements from art, literature, theater, and religion. These works chart Thek's journey from legendary outsider to foundational figure in contemporary art. In their antiheroic diversity, Thek's works embody the art revolution of the 1960s; indeed, Susan Sontag dedicated her classic Against Interpretation to him. Thek's treatment of the body in such works as “Technological Reliquaries,” with their castings and replicas of human body parts, tissue, and bones, both evoke the aura of Christian relics and anticipate the work of Damien Hirst. The book, with more than 500 images (300 in colour) and nineteen essays by art historians, curators, collectors, and artists, investigates Thek's work on its own terms, and as a starting point for understanding the work of the many younger artists Thek has influenced.

Essays by Jean-Christophe Ammann, Margrit Brehm, Bazon Brock, Suzanne Delehanty, Harald Falckenberg, Marietta Franke, Stefan Germer, Kim Gordon, Roland Groenenboom, Axel Heil, Gregor Jansen, Mike Kelley, John Miller, Susanne Neubauer, Kenny Schachter, Harald Szeemann, Annette Tietenberg, Peter Weibel, Ann Wilson.

Good copy with tanning to spine, some bumping and waving from storage. Clean throughout.

File under: Paul Thek Jean-Christophe Ammann Margrit Brehm Bazon Brock Suzanne Delehanty Harald Falckenberg Marietta Franke Stefan Germer Kim Gordon Roland Groenenboom Axel Heil Gregor Jansen Mike Kelley John Miller Susanne Neubauer Kenny Schachter Harald Szeemann Annette Tietenberg Peter Weibel Ann Wilson The MIT Press / Massachusetts Art Sculpture / Installation Painting Drawing Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic Out-of-print / Rare Arte Povera

Kitsch 2

1971, French
Softcover, 28.5 x 19 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Kitsch / Paris

$160.00 - Out of stock

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Rare 2nd volume of this wonderful two-part French avant-garde journal, published in Paris at the beginning of the 1970s. A visual manifesto against the prudishness of that time, KITSCH presented hundreds of illustrations of mostly erotic and fantastic/grotesque artwork by artists from all over the world, and spanning generations, including Aslan, Roy Lichtenstein, Virgil Finlay, Jim Osborne, Ronald Lipking, Greg Irons, George Grosz, Egon Schiele, Mel Ramos, alongside photo essays on subjects such as "Pop Art", "Human Concern" and Paris' "Pigalle" district, further featuring work by H.C.Westermann, Paul Thek, Edward Keinholz, William Tunberg, Christian Schad, William Weegee, James Rosenquist, Frank Gallo, and many more.

Very good copy!

File under: Paul Thek Edward Keinholz William Tunberg Christian Schad William Weegee James Rosenquist Frank Gallo Aslan Roy Lichtenstein Virgil Finlay Jim Osborne Ronald Lipking Greg Irons George Grosz Egon Schiele Mel Ramos H. C. Westermann Kitsch / Paris Eros Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Art Painting Out-of-print / Rare

Paul Thek in Italy (1962-1976)
by Valérie Da Costa

2022, English / French
Softcover, 316 pages, 17 x 24 cm
Published by Les Presses Du Reel / Paris

$55.00 - In stock -

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Bi-lingual English/French publication of an in-depth essay by art historian Valérie Da Costa on the Italian period (1962-1976) of the American artist, Paul Thek (1933-1988), one of the most distinctive American artists of the latter half of the twentieth century, always refusing the artistic mainstream. Although never studied before now, Thek's life in Italy profoundly influenced the artist's imagination and his work.

From 1962 to 1976, he traveled to Italy, for multiple extended stays. In Rome, he discovered ancient sculpture, the achievements of the Renaissance, the Baroque churches, but above all the contemporary artistic effervescence of the capital. In Sicily, with his friend the photographer Peter Hujar, he was confronted with the question of death through reliquaries, religious processions or the extraordinary Capuchin catacombs. On the island of Ponza, he immersed himself in an ecstatic Mediterranean lifestyle, in osmosis with nature and the sea in particular. Many deeply felt experiences in Italy helped shape his artistic practice, from the famous Technological Reliquaries, to innovative installations and his return to painting and drawing.

Heavily illustrated throughout with Thek's many artworks, studies and cultural references in colour and b/w, this essay sets out to analyze, for the first time, the deep influence of this Italian life on the imaginary and work of Paul Thek.

Valérie Da Costa is an art historian, art critic and curator. She holds the position of associate professor in contemporary art history (twentieth-twenty-first centuries) at the University of Strasbourg. Her research focuses on Italian art of the second half of the twentieth century, on which she has published numerous articles and books, including Écrits de Lucio Fontana (Les presses du réel, 2013).

Translated from the French by Garry White.

File under: Paul Thek Peter Hujar Valerie Da Costa Les Presses Du Reel / Paris Art Theory / Essay Sculpture / Installation Painting Drawing

Art of the Sixties / Kunst der sechziger Jahre

1969, English / German
Flexible plastic covers, screw-bound in acrylic spine, multiple stocks throughout, approx 500 pages, 28 x 15 cm
3rd enlarged edition,
Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Ludwig Museum / Cologne

$300.00 - Out of stock

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The extraordinary, definitive 1960s art exhibition catalogue, in it's 3rd expanded and corrected edition, designed by Wolf Vostell for the Ludwig collection in Cologne in 1969. A work of art itself, "Kunst der sechziger Jahre" perfectly embodies the materiality of the pop-era in book form. Housed in thick blind-stamped clear soft plastic covers bound in a hard acrylic plexiglass spine with stainless steel screws, this remarkable book opens with an introductory text and lexicon in German and English, printed on styrofoam pages and graph stock, with contributions by Gert von der Osten, Peter Ludwig, Horst Keller, and Evelyn Weiss. Featuring 92 artists, all part of the private collection of Peter Ludwig, each artist is presented with a portrait on transparent acetate followed by a selection of glossy offset-printed colour artworks tipped-in (often concertina fold-out!) on thick raw kraft paper pages. This enlarged 3rd edition features over 200 objects in total, a vast expansion on the first editions.

Featuring the greats of European-American Pop, Nouveau Réalisme, Fluxus, Art Informel, Abstraction, Minimalism and more, this mighty tome includes the work of Josef Albers, Carl Andre, Horst Antes, Shusaku Arakawa, Allan D'Arcangelo, Arman, Richard Artschwager, Jo Baer, Larry Bell, Miguel Berrocal, Joseph Beuys, Peter Blake, Gernot Bubenik, Anthony Caro, John Chamberlain, Dan Christensen, Alex Colville, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Ronald Davis, Jim Dine, Jean Dubuffet, Richard Estes, Oyvind Fahlstrom, Dan Flavin, Lucio Fontana, Domenico Gnoli, Bruno Goller, Robert Graham, Nancy Stevenson Graves, Gunter Haese, Richard Hamilton, Hans Hartung, Erwin Heerich, Eva Hesse, David Hockney, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Allen Jones, Donald Judd, Howard Kantovitz, Ellsworth Kelly, Edward Kienholz, R. B. Kitaj, Konrad Klapheck, Yves Klein, Yayoi Kusama, Sol Lewitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Richard Linder, Morris Louis, Heinz Mack, Piero Manzoni, Marisol, Malcolm Morley, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, Louise Nevelson, Kenneth Noland, Claes Oldenburg, Eduardo Paolozzi, Pablo Picasso, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Robert Rauschenberg, Martial Raysse, Gerhard Richter, Jean-Paul Riopelle, James Rosenquist, Niki de Saint Phalle, Nicolas Schoffer, Bernhard Schultze, George Segal, Richard Serra, Keith Sonnier, Pierre Soulages, Daniel Spoerri, Lawrence Stafford, Lewis Stein, Frank Stella, Antoni Tapies, Paul Thek, Wayne Thiebaud, Jean Tinguely, Richard Tuttle, Cy Twombly, Gunther Uecker, Ursula (Schultze-Bluhm), Victor Vasarely, Wolf Vostell, Franz Erhard Walther, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann, Wols (Wolfgang Schulze).

A Very Good copy of this fragile and collectible catalogue. The usual bowing to pages, some general ageing, with a split to the lower back of plastic spine where the screw hole is, yet all still intact, nothing missing. Complete copy.

File under: Marisol Öyvind Fahlström Josef Albers Carl Andre Horst Antes Shusaku Arakawa Allan D'Arcangelo Arman Richard Artschwager Larry Bell Miguel Berrocal Joseph Beuys Peter Blake Gernot Bubenik Anthony Caro John Chamberlain Dan Christensen Alex Colville Carlos Cruz-Diez Ronald Davis Jim Dine Jean Dubuffet Richard Estes Dan Flavin Lucio Fontana Domenico Gnoli Bruno Goller Robert Graham Nancy Graves Gunter Haese Richard Hamilton Hans Hartung Erwin Heerich Eva Hesse David Hockney Robert Indiana Jasper Johns Allen Jones Donald Judd Howard Kantovitz Ellsworth Kelly Edward Kienholz R. B. Kitaj Konrad Klapheck Yves Klein Yayoi Kusama Sol Lewitt Roy Lichtenstein Richard Linder Morris Louis Heinz Mack Piero Manzoni Malcolm Morley Robert Morris Bruce Nauman Louise Nevelson Kenneth Noland Claes Oldenburg Eduardo Paolozzi Pablo Picasso Michelangelo Pistoletto Robert Rauschenberg Martial Raysse Gerhard Richter Jean-Paul Riopelle James Rosenquist Niki de Saint Phalle Nicolas Schoffer Bernhard Schultze George Segal Richard Serra Keith Sonnier Pierre Soulages Daniel Spoerri Lawrence Stafford Lewis Stein Frank Stella Antoni Tapies Paul Thek Wayne Thiebaud Jean Tinguely Richard Tuttle Cy Twombly Gunther Uecker Ursula (Schultze-Bluhm) Victor Vasarely Wolf Vostell Franz Erhard Walther Andy Warhol Tom Wesselmann Wols Jo Baer Gert von der Osten Peter Ludwig Horst Keller Evelyn Weiss Ludwig Museum / Cologne Arte Informale / Haute Pâte / Tachism Nouveau Réalisme / Zero / Kinetic Pop Art Painting Sculpture / Installation Group Shows / Collections Curatorial Art Minimal Art

Images of Horror and Fantasy
by Gert Schiff

1979, English
Softcover, 159 pages, 28 x 23 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Harry N. Abrams / New York

$50.00 - Out of stock

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Published by Abrams in 1979, Images of Horror and Fantasy by art historian Gert Schiff expanded on a major group exhibition guest curated by Schiff at the Bronx Museum in 1977. The resulting publication is a perceptive critical and psychological analyses of a variety of nineteenth-and twentieth-century art that "unfolds simultaneously on the level of historical and social reality and on the level of dreams. Its purpose is to expose some of the principal anxieties of modern man and their resolution in utopian reveries and escapist fantasies." Profusely illustrated in colour and b/w throughout with the works of Alfred Kubin, James Ensor, George Grosz, Paul Thek, Sibylle Ruppert, Henry Fuseli, Paul Delvaux, Nancy Grossman, Käthe Kollwitz, Max Beckmann, Fernand Khnopff, Rudolph von Ripper, Max Klinger, H. R. Giger, Jonah Kinigstein, Edward Keinholz, Jean Delville, Lucas Samaras, Miriam Beerman, Willem de Kooning, Man Ray, Oskar Kokoschka, Salvador Dali, Paolo Soleri, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Georges Rouault, Otto Dix, Pablo Picasso, Philip Evergood, William Blake, Giorgio de Chirico, Ivan Albright, Yves Tanguy, Paul Klee, Jasper Johns, Germaine Richier, Francisco de Goya, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Matisse, Max Ernst, Francis Bacon, Rene Magritte, Illya Repin, Antoine Wiertz, Odilon Redon, Edward Burra, Larry Rivers, George Segal, Thomas Cole, Léon Frédéric, Matthias Grünewald, Rico Lebrun, Bruce Connor, Edvard Munch, and many more.

Gert Schiff (1926 — 1990, b. Oldenburg, Germany) was an art historian, critic, lecturer and professor at the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University. A specialist in the Romantic movement, particularly the work of Henry Fuseli and William Blake, Mr. Schiff was also very much involved with 20th-century art, organising many major exhibitions around his interests whilst authoring important studies on the arts from his dwellings at the Chelsea Hotel.

Very Good copy.

File under: Alfred Kubin James Ensor George Grosz Paul Thek Nancy Grossman Käthe Kollwitz Max Beckmann Fernand Khnopff Rudolph von Ripper Max Klinger Jonah Kinigstein Edward Keinholz Lucas Samaras Miriam Beerman Willem de Kooning Man Ray Oskar Kokoschka Salvador Dali Georges Rouault Otto Dix Pablo Picasso William Blake Giorgio de Chirico Ivan Albright Yves Tanguy Paul Klee Jasper Johns Germaine Richier Francisco de Goya Max Ernst Francis Bacon Sibylle Ruppert Rico Lebrun Henry Fuseli Bruce Connor Edvard Munch Paul Delvaux Jean Delville Paolo Soleri Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres Philip Evergood Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Henri Matisse Rene Magritte Illya Repin Antoine Wiertz Odilon Redon Edward Burra Larry Rivers George Segal Thomas Cole Léon Frédéric Matthias Grünewald Gert Schiff Harry N. Abrams / New York Art Out-of-print / Rare Curatorial Group Shows / Collections Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction Surrealism Painting Sculpture / Installation Theory / Essay

Paul Thek
Nothing But Time: Revisited 1964 - 1987

2013, English
Softcover (staple-bound), 72 pages, 21 x 24 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / as new
Published by Pace London / London

$140.00 - Out of stock

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Very scarce copy of this rare and unprecedented overview of Paul Thek works from the early to mid 1960's, across all the media he worked, and never seen before to this extent in the UK. The exhibition, curated by Kenny Schachter, includes works from the noted newspaper series to the legendary and singular 'Technological Reliquary' series.

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 solo and group exhibitions, the anti-establishment "artist's artist" was practically forgotten at the time of his death from AIDS related illness in New York City in 1988, aged 54.

As New copy.

File under: Paul Thek Kenny Schachter Pace London / London Art Nouveau Réalisme / Zero / Kinetic Sculpture / Installation Drawing Painting Out-of-print / Rare

Bildwerke und Objekte : Neuzugänge seit 1965

1973, German
Softcover, 138 pages, 24 x 16.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Wallraf-Richartz-Museum / Cologne

$40.00 - Out of stock

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Lovely catalogue published by Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Köln, in 1973 to document the museums extensive collection of international contemporary sculpture. Profusely illustrated in black and white with the works of Jean Arp, Paul Thek, Nancy Graves, John Chamberlain, Larry Bell, Carl Andre, Christo, Eva Hesse, Joachim Bandau, Jacques Lipchitz, Louise Nevelson, Joseph Cornell, Jean Dubuffet, Germaine Richier, Schöffer, Bernard Schultze, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Ursula (Schultze-Bluhm), John Tweed, Franz Erhard Walther, Hanns Gasser, Merdardo Rosso, Joseph Beuys, Günter Haese, Roy Lichtenstein, Richard Serra, Keith Sonnier, Jesús Rafael Soto, Richard Tuttle, Helmut Moos, Bruce Nauman, Ansgar Nierhoff, Jim Dine, Gary Indiana, Karl Zeno Rudolf Schadow, Julio Le Parc, Robert Rauschenberg, Man Ray, G. F. Ris, George Segal, Nicolas Schöffer, Anthony Caro, Eduardo Paolozzi, Jean Tinguely, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Arman, Claes Oldenburg, Marisol Escobar, Niki Saint-Phalle, Daniel Spoerri, Günther Uecker, Heinz Mack, Wolf Vostell, Miguel Ortiz Berrocal, Pol Bury, Erwin Heerich, Horst-Egon Kalinowski, Brigitte Meier-Denninghoff, Johann Gottfried Schadow, Honoré Daumier, Gasser, Adolf von Hildebrand, Max Klinger, Rosso, Aristide Maillol, Tweed, Julio González, Pablo Picasso, Henri Laurens, and many more... Texts in German.

Very Good copy.

File under: Jean Arp (Hans Arp) Paul Thek Nancy Graves John Chamberlain Larry Bell Carl Andre Christo Eva Hesse Joachim Bandau Jacques Lipchitz Louise Nevelson Joseph Cornell Jean Dubuffet Germaine Richier Schöffer Bernard Schultze Carlos Cruz-Diez Ursula (Schultze-Bluhm) John Tweed Franz Erhard Walther Hanns Gasser Merdardo Rosso Joseph Beuys Günter Haese Roy Lichtenstein Richard Serra Keith Sonnier Jesus Raphael Soto Richard Tuttle Helmut Moos Bruce Nauman Marisol Robert Rauschenberg Ansgar Nierhoff Karl Zeno Rudolf Schadow Julio Le Parc Jim Dine Gary Indiana Eduardo Paolozzi Arman Anthony Caro George Segal Man Ray Nicolas Schoffer Claes Oldenburg Jean Tinguely G. F. Ris Arnaldo Pomodoro Daniel Spoerri Heinz Mack Wolf Vostell Miguel Ortiz Berrocal Pol Bury Erwin Heerich Horst-Egon Kalinowski Brigitte Meier-Denninghoff Johann Gottfried Schadow Honoré Daumier Gasser Adolf von Hildebrand Max Klinger Rosso Aristide Maillol Pablo Picasso Henri Laurens Günter Uecker Niki de Saint-Phalle Julio Gonzalez Wallraf-Richartz-Museum / Cologne Art Sculpture / Installation Conceptual Art Group Shows / Collections Minimal Art Nouveau Réalisme / Zero / Kinetic Out-of-print / Rare Fluxus Dada

Chambres d'Amis
Edited by Jan Hoet

1986, English / Dutch / German / French / Italian
Hardcover (cloth w. dust jacket, inc. ephemera, guide/ticket, prints), 366 pages, 27 x 24 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst / Gent

$220.00 - Out of stock

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First and only edition of this very special, scarce exhibition catalogue / photo-book published to document and accompany the innovative exhibition Chambres d'Amis (‘friends’ rooms’), organised by Jan Hoet in Ghent in 1986, awarding him an international reputation as a leading artistic figure in Belgium. Chambres d'Amis featured about 50 European and American artists invited by Hoet to create works for 50 private homes in Ghent, which were then opened to the public for several weeks between June 21 - September 21, 1986. Artists included are Carla Accardi, Christian Boltanski, Raf Buedts, Daniël Buren, Michaël Buthe, Jacques Charlier, Nicola de Maria, Luciano Fabro, Günther Förg, Jef Geys, Dan Graham, Milan Grygar, François Hers, Kazuo Katase, Niek Kemps, Joseph Kosuth, Jannis Kounellis, Bertrand Lavier, Sol LeWitt, Danny Matthys, Gerhard Merz, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Helmut Middendorf, Juan Muñoz, Hidetoshi Nagasawa, Bruce Nauman, Maria Nordman, Oswald Oberhuber, Heike Pallanca, Panamarenko, Giulio Paolini, Royden Rabinowitch, Norbert Radermacher, Roger Raveel, Wolfgang Robbe, Claude Rutault, Reiner Ruthenbeck, Remo Salvadori, Rob Scholte, Ettore Spalletti, Paul Thek, Niele Toroni, Charles Vandenhove, Philip van Isacker, Jan Vercruysse, Jean-Luc Vilmouth, Martin Walde, Lawrence Weiner, Robin Winters, Gilberto Zorio.

The entire city-wide exhibition is comprehensively documented herein (from the domestic interior installations themselves to behind-the-scenes photography, social and working imagery of the artists installing and meeting, public events, etc.) in colour and b/w on various paper stocks with many fold-out panels and reproductions of artist's sketches, alongside extensive texts by Jan Hoet and statements accompanying the work of each artist all in Dutch, English, French, German, and Italian. Includes a list of all hosts/hostesses alongside the artists.

An incredible document of one the most important and unique contemporary art exhibitions in Belgium's history. Jan Hoet (23 June 1936 – 27 February 2014) was the Belgian founder and director of SMAK (Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst) in Ghent (director from 1975 until 2003) and subsequently managed several important exhibitions all over the world including curating Documenta IX in Kassel in 1992, presenting several hundred works by 190 artists from nearly 40 countries.

“Intriguingly titled ‘Chambres d’Amis’ –-‘guest rooms’,” or, literally, ‘friends’ rooms’-– the show places art in 58 houses belonging to everyday townspeople, carrying the work outside the separate universe, the total institution, of the museum, to bring it within the private zone of the private home, an asocial place insofar as it is removed from the public arena. (...) His [Hoet’s] project takes the exhibition structure off its hinges, goes beyond the limits of the frame and spills over, whole, into an interior. Art here no longer offers a mirror or a window, nor constitutes the privileged sign of a choice, but is an actual, provocative presence, confirming its difference both from the museum space, which has lost its sanctity, and from the contextual frame in which the object serves as a fetish.”—Pier Luigi Tazzi, “Albrecht Dürer would have come too”, Artforum, September 1986

Very Good copy w. some wear/light spine fading to Good dust jacket, now preserved under mylar wrap. This special copy comes most complete, including exhibition guide/work checklist, Ghent map of exhibit locations, and a selection of 4 loose photographic press prints of featured installations.

File under: Carla Accardi Christian Boltanski Raf Buedts Daniël Buren Michaël Buthe Jacques Charlier Nicola de Maria Luciano Fabro Günther Förg Jef Geys Dan Graham Milan Grygar François Hers Kazuo Katase Niek Kemps Joseph Kosuth Jannis Kounellis Bertrand Lavier Sol LeWitt Danny Matthys Gerhard Merz Mario Merz Marisa Merz Helmut Middendorf Juan Muñoz Hidetoshi Nagasawa Bruce Nauman Maria Nordman Oswald Oberhuber Heike Pallanca Panamarenko Giulio Paolini Royden Rabinowitch Norbert Radermacher Roger Raveel Wolfgang Robbe Claude Rutault Reiner Ruthenbeck Remo Salvadori Rob Scholte Ettore Spalletti Paul Thek Niele Toroni Charles Vandenhove Philip van Isacker Jan Vercruysse Jean-Luc Vilmouth Martin Walde Lawrence Weiner Robin Winters Gilberto Zorio Jan Hoet Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst / Gent Art Conceptual Art Minimal Art Architecture / Interior Out-of-print / Rare Group Shows / Collections Arte Povera Curatorial Painting Sculpture / Installation

Paul Thek and Edwin Klein
A Document Made By Paul Thek and Edwin Klein

1969, English / Dutch
Softcover, 140 pages, 41 x 31 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by Stedelijk Museum / Amsterdam Moderna Museet / Stockholm

$450.00 - Out of stock

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An extremely rare and well-preserved copy of one of the greatest artist books of our time. "A Document Made By Paul Thek and Edwin Klein" is an immensely important collaborative work created and published in 1969 by the American artist Paul Thek (1933-1988) and the Dutch photographer and designer Edwin Klein (1946-) for the Pauk Thek and the Artist's Co-op installations at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and the Moderne Museet, Stockholm. Thek’s wish was to turn his diary into artworks: three-dimensional albums, each double page a full-bleed photograph shot from above of a still life of pictures, drawings, books, postcards, magazine clippings, objects (ashtrays, wine bottles, rope, garments, plaster mushrooms, and various other detritus from Thek's studio), the artist's themselves, photographs by friends and colleagues, all printed at 100% scale of the original newspaper sheets that provide the backdrop throughout the entire book. Manipulated by Thek and Klein, the pictures and the objects change from one page spread to the next, all in constant movement, capturing the personal and magical nature of Thek's work and the spontaneous and joyous nature of Thek's collaborations with Klein.

"The document follows my concept of what a book should be like, and Paul’s wish to turn his diary into a kind of catalogue – a three-dimensional album, each double page a photograph of a still life with pictures, drawings, books, cards, and objects…The book has the dimensions of an open newspaper, actual size. Turning the pages of the document, one turns the pages of a diary. The pictures and the objects placed on the newspaper keep changing and seem to be in constant movement. Most of the photographs are from the studio, documenting works in progress created for the Stedelijk Museum exhibition. There are pictures from other exhibitions, porno magazines, whatever was lying around, everything that surrounded us in our daily life." - Edwin Klein

Good over-sized copy of the first edition with general handling wear, creasing and tanning to cover and pages. Overall a wonderful copy of this highly sought after publication.

File under: Paul Thek Edwin Klein Stedelijk Museum / Amsterdam Moderna Museet / Stockholm Art Painting Photography Out-of-print / Rare Sculpture / Installation