Paul Thek at the Hammer Museum and the History of Meat Art

Comments (0) By Erica Zora Wrightson Thursday, Jun 30 2011

Untitled (Meat Pyramid), for instance, involves a four-sided Plexiglas pyramid box that contains a bloody, sinewy chunk of wax-meat textured with clear lumps of what could be fat, the top coated in a cloudy layer, insinuating congealed lard. The image caption reveals a list of organic and nonorganic materials: wax, hair, metal, wood, plaster, cord, paint.

Thek's "meat pieces" will not be physically digested by his audience and, unlike the ephemeral works mentioned earlier, which were born out of the relational aesthetics movement, they have physically outlived the artist — who died of AIDS at age 54 — and will outlive audiences. The works are simply art objects — the experience is neither aural, olfactory, gustatory nor tactile. Appetites will not be entertained.

PHOTO BY SHELDAN C. COLLINS. COPYRIGHT THE ESTATE OF GEORGE PAUL THEK; COURTESY ALEXANDER AND BONIN, NEW YORK

One of Paul Thek's "meat pieces" from the series Technological Reliquaries

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Hammer Museum

10899 Wilshire Blvd.
Westwood, CA 90024

Category: Museums

Region: West L.A.

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Like the satirical and sarcastic scenes posed by other artists who employ meat as a medium, Thek's works are both ridiculous and religious at once. Although they do not require his audience to physically handle, chew, and digest, the experience of peering into his boxes is no less self-conscious.

But the experience of his works is a relatively private act, and can offer pause to modern viewers preoccupied with meat sources, cooking methods and cuts. Like a diner at a trendy pop-up restaurant, a participant in one of Rubell's meat installations might leave with greasy fingers, a full stomach and a few new friends, while Thek's audience is kept at arm's length, left to consider, without the distraction of sensory details, the matter and meaning of meat.