Paul Thek: Seized by Joy. Paintings 1965–1988. | Thomas Dane Gallery
This exhibition is a lyrical, pastel-shaded counterpart to the solid and stark Peter Hujar show that shook me up earlier this year. Meeting in the 1950s and dying within a year of each other in the late 1980s, Paul Thek and Hujar were lovers, friends and close collaborators. While Hujar went for icy formal perfection in his photos, Thek’s paintings are dreamy, almost warm.
Both men found their ultimate artistic catharsis in New York City. The cityscapes, painted through spindly wooden window frames, are the highlights of this Thek show. He picked out certain iconic skyscrapers, again and again, from his home and studio in the east village: the bulky Met-Life Centre; the elegant Chrysler building, the two towers of the original World Trade Center.
The buildings are lyrically beautiful under Thek’s sympathetic pencil and paint brush, gauzy and shimmering, as if under a layer of grease. The gnarly window that frames the scenes is palpably rotten and mildewy. Beauty in decay: he’s not so different from Hujar after all.
A note on the curation of this fascinating show: it’s a joint effort between the artist Kenny Schachter and the fashion designer Jonathan Anderson, who also put together another exhibition, over the road at Offer Waterman, that I wrote about last year.
Then as now, some of the choices are bafflingly zany. The paintings and drawings are clustered around the corners of some galleries, like rising damp. One - only one - is lamp lit. And there were a couple of minute chairs facing some of the works; so small that I lacked the core strength to sit down with much confidence I’d get back up.
Fortunately for the curators, the reputation of the artist on show, and the atmosphere his works cast, were enough for these choices not to take centre stage. They only framed the frames.
Paul Thek: Seized by Joy. Paintings 1965–1988. is at Thomas Dane Gallery (London). 29 May - 02 August 2025