Ghostwriting Paul Thek: Time Capsules and Reliquaries
Ghostwriting Paul Thek: Time Capsules and Reliquaries consists of a core of new sculptures, a painting and a video work by Alessandro Di Pietro, conceived in relation to the life and work of American artist Paul Thek (1933-1988). During a residency at the American Academy in Rome in 2017, Di Pietro began exploring an imagined scenario in which Thek would not have passed away prematurely, but would have continued his practice as an artist post mortem. By consciously fusing reality and fiction, the project evokes Thek’s lasting and imaginative impact on the work of artists today.
The exhibition is curated by Peter Benson Miller and Cornelia Mattiacci.
“My intent was to ghostwrite for Paul Thek” explains Di Pietro “I continued his mysterious narratives in my terms, adjusting them to the discourses surrounding today’s history: the socio-political narratives and facts of our time. My process was imagining how a story — in this case, the story of an artist’s work — might have continued if it hadn’t been cut short.” Ghostwriting Paul Thek: Time Capsules and Reliquaries benefitted from Di Pietro’s residency and exhibition at the Watermill Center in Watermill, New York (USA), a partner in the project. A centre for contemporary experimentation and the official home of a substantial collection of Thek’s works and documents, the Watermill context triggered the genesis of Race of a Hippiethe short film made in collaboration with the No Text Company studio, inspired by the iconic sculpture by Thek The Tomb (often referred to as the Death of a Hippie),1967. The Tomb, now lost, featuring a life-size effigy of the artist’s own body installed in the inside of a ziggurat, staged the death and resurrection of the artist. Similarly, other works in the current exhibition, sculptures Baby Cast, Br’er Rabbit, To Wong, and the painting Television/Collaboration, evoke specific motifs, materials, and subversive strategies recurring in Thek’s work. Di Pietro draws on biographical facts and broader social issues from a continuous present, stretching from the 1960s to today. Balancing fact and fiction and exploring questions of influence, issues of appropriation and attribution, and the artistic action exercised by the United States, the exhibition highlights the legacy of Paul Thek’s enduring and elusive work.
In continuity with Paul Thek. Italian Hours, held at the Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio in 2022 – the first exhibition dedicated to Thek in Italy since 1995 – Di Pietro’s work further explores the role of the American artist as a forerunner and collaborator, who continues to populate the reflections of contemporary artists. As such, Ghostwriting Paul Thek underlines the mission of the Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio to support emerging artists, especially those engaging the work of the postwar avant-garde. The production of these new works
, as well as the accompanying publication and program of exhibitions, talks, screenings and workshops during 2023-2024, was made possible thanks to the support of the Italian Council (11th Edition, 2022), a program aimed at supporting Italian contemporary art and its promotion abroad, promoted by Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity, Ministry of Culture. The project was presented by Palazzo Monti.
Prior to the Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio, the exhibition was shown at the Watermill Center, Watermill, NY, USA, at the CAN-Centre d’Art Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and at Palazzo Monti, in Brescia. After the run of the show in Rome, the works will enter the public collection of the Madre Museum in Naples. The exhibition is enriched by a series of collateral events. A screening of Race of a Hippie, followed by a panel discussion, was held at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin in November 2023, and Di Pietro will conduct a workshop at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Urbino in April 2024.
The book accompanying the exhibition, edited by Miller and Mattiacci based on a concept developed by Di Pietro, and published by Mousse, will be presented at Madre in May 2024 to mark the entry of the works into that collection.
