Perhaps better known for his wax sculptures suggesting raw meat or human limbs, his room-sized installations utilizing transitory materials or the bronzes he created in Rome back in the 70s these more humble works on paper offer a more intimate point of view.  The color and paint handling are wonderfully luscious where the imagery directly or more subliminally suggests food.  Thek, who passed away in 1988, had created work on newsprint since 1969 and it makes for an excellent background medium to hold these forms.  The casual materials and equally casual rendering of the forms suggest to me a fantasy of going to a market and bringing home freshly wrapped ‘art’.  You consume this work with your eyes but easily fantasize dining on it like rare exotic fruit that produces an indescribable taste.

Paul Thek, Untitled (Abstraction), ca 1982, acrylic on newspaper, 22 7/8 x 28 7/8 in

Paul Thek, Red Eyelashes, 1983, acrylic on newspaper, 22 1/4 x 27 5/8 in

Paul Thek, Untitled (Five Blue Arcs), ca 1981, acrylic on newspaper, 22 3/8 x 28 5/8 in