Ever Since Night Falls (The Tomb, Paul Thek, 1967), 2019

Basel 2019
Ever Since Night Falls (The Tomb, Paul Thek, 1967)

ChertLüdde

Sculpture
Wood, foam, papier mache, paint
192.0 x 240.0 x 137.0 （厘米）
75.6 x 94.5 x 53.9 （吋）
Photo: Trevor Lloyd In 1967, 34 year old, Brooklyn-born artist Paul Thek depicted himself dead at Stable Gallery in New York, a life-sized wax figure encased in a three-tiered tomb, the fingers of his right hand severed. The rosy pink interior of the tomb did little to mask the morbidity of the scene, and the work quickly gained attention in the art world as it traveled from New York to London and around Europe. Although originally a contemplation on religion and mortality, the work grew to symbolize the counter-cultural hippie movement which arose during the Vietnam War. The blonde, long haired figure inside the tomb became associated with a group of young people dissatisfied with the commercialized symbol of “the hippie”, and the artist’s work was referred to as “The Death of the Hippie” despite Thek’s resistance to this ideological designation. Thek’s rejection of art market trends and demands and his difficult relationships to his friends and supporters contributed to the decline — during his lifetime — of his artist career. Thek was known for his unpredictable behavior — he entrusted a former dealer to deal with the handling of the outer structure of The Tomb, who merely instructed the museum holding it to discard the work if no one would take responsibility for it. As for the wax figure, Thek’s inability to properly arrange for its return from a storage company resulted in its disappearance.