Shrine: A Little Book About Paul Thek

There is a photograph of Paul walking on a lawn and carrying a life-sized version of the cross. It appears to be quite heavy, made of wood. It can be seen to rest upon his shoulders. This is somewhere in

Résumé

Paul Thek's shrine concept

The article introduces Paul Thek, an artist whose work revolves around a personal collection of objects, notes, and letters stored in a wooden milk crate he calls a Shrine.

This crate, found at a bazaar and lined with glass panes from a neighbor’s trash, becomes a portable archive of his life, filled with unmailed letters, photographs, and sketches.

The Shrine symbolizes Thek’s attempt to preserve fragments of his existence, blending the mundane with the sacred.

The crate’s contents, including notebooks from his travels to Rome and Ponza in 1973, reflect his introspective and ritualistic approach to art.

The term Shrine here refers not just to a physical object but to a conceptual space where memory, spirituality, and creativity intersect.

Thek’s process involves repurposing discarded materials, such as an old milk crate and broken glass, to create something meaningful, highlighting his belief in art as a form of worship or devotion.