Pace Gallery in New York presents 'Dream of Vanishing,' a solo exhibition of Paul Thek’s work, six decades after his second solo show at the same gallery. The exhibition features around 50 artworks dating from 1962 to the mid-1980s, including early ink drawings, wax meat sculptures, and late-career abstract paintings, some never before exhibited. Organized by Pace founder Arnie Glimcher, Paul Thek Foundation director Noah Khoshbin, and Pace chief curator Oliver Shultz, the show takes a non-chronological 'constellation approach' to honor Thek’s creative richness and avoid rigid interpretation.
The exhibition matters because it reexamines the legacy of Paul Thek, a highly influential but often overlooked 'artist’s artist' who experienced both acclaim and neglect during his lifetime. Thek’s work—deeply engaged with mortality, faith, and the body—resonates with contemporary conversations about art, identity, and the AIDS crisis. By presenting rarely seen pieces and emphasizing the painterly quality of his three-dimensional works, the show challenges the art world to reconsider Thek’s place in 20th-century art history and highlights the ongoing relevance of his themes.