Stay away from nothing / Paul Thek & Peter Hujar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thek, Paul, author, photographer.

Contributor:

Hujar, Peter, 1934-1987, photographer, author.

Durbin, Andrew, writer of afterword.

Schichtel, Francis, editor.

Primary Information (Organization), publisher.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Thek, Paul--Criticism and interpretation.

Thek, Paul--Correspondence.

Thek, Paul--Friends and associates.

Hujar, Peter, 1934-1987--Criticism and interpretation.

Hujar, Peter, 1934-1987--Correspondence.

Hujar, Peter, 1934-1987--Friends and associates.

Artists--United States--20th century--History.

Gay artists--20th century--History.

Genre:

artists' books (books)

Artists' books.

Portraits.

Personal correspondence.

Physical Description:

191 pages : illustrations, facsimiles (some color), portraits ; 31 cm

Other Title:

Paul Thek & Peter Hujar : stay away from nothing

Paul Thek and Peter Hujar : stay away from nothing

Place of Publication:

[Brooklyn, New York] : Primary Information, [2025]

Summary:

"Stay Away From Nothing shines a spotlight on the deep relationship between Paul Thek and Peter Hujar through the artists' letters and photographs. Beginning in 1956 and spanning two decades, the publication opens a window into their intimate, complex, and beautiful lives, starting with a sequence of images by Hujar that showcases the two of them in innocent moments of pensive and haunting play in Coral Gables and beyond. These early portraits of their budding relationship are followed by several playful postcards from Thek in 1960 and his first letter to Hujar in 1962, written while the artist is in the Philadelphia harbor aboard a containership bound for Europe. In the letter, Thek is brimming with joy and new discoveries and exclaims that the world "seems bigger and more gloriously strange than ever before in my entire life." The two eventually meet in Rome, where they both begin to evolve into the icons we know them as today, and the remaining letters trace Thek's travels and adventures, romantic dalliances, work, and financial ups and downs through 1975. More than fifty letters and postcards, along with drawings and other ephemera, are reproduced in Stay away from nothing and their poetic, quotidian, and melancholic tone provide a rare glimpse into Thek and Hujar's relationship as it wavers with seduction, glamor, tumult, and mischievousness. Throughout this period, Hujar was photographing Thek in his now-iconic style, capturing him in Italy, in various studios, and on the beaches of Fire Island. Included are the artist's classic images of Thek in the catacombs in Palermo, as well as his studio portraits of the artist creating The Tomb. Among these well-known works are dozens of other photographs, many unpublished until now, including candid portraits of Thek, as well as images of the two artists goofing around or posing for passport photos. Collectively, these images demonstrate not only the complex emotional interiority of Thek but the tender, dark, and hopeful connection between the two artists, lovers, and friends.

Notes:

Edited by Francis Schichtel ; afterword by Andrew Durbin.

ISBN:

9798988573685

OCLC:

1468568157