An aerospace engineering professional based in Los Angeles, California, Mark Thek is the president of Esterline Power Systems, an international company that provides power distribution systems to aerospace and rail programs around the world. Outside of his work in the aerospace sector, Mark Thek is an author and the nephew of distinguished artist Paul Thek. Though he passed away at the young age of 54, Paul Thek’s legacy endures in his art pieces, several of which are on display at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC. Among the Thek pieces on display at the Hirshhorn Museum is Fishman, a sculpture that made its debut at the arts center in 1968. Made from a natural rubber and latex cast of the artist’s body, Fishman depicts a swimming man supported by fish that swim along the length of his body. Because the fish has historically been a biblically based symbol for Jesus Christ, many interpret the sculpture’s message as one of resurrection. While the sculpture originally sported a flesh-like tone and texture, time has worn away at its material, darkening the color of the art piece and hardening the latex to the point of crumbling. Restoration professionals from the Hirshhorn treated the sculpture in 2010 for the Whitney Museum of American Art’s exhibition Paul Thek, Diver: A Retrospective. Since 1995, Mark Thek has served as president of Esterline Power Systems in Los Angeles. Outside of his work in the aerospace engineering industry, Mark Thek enjoys surfing, snowboarding, and spending time with his family. He also maintains an interest in the work of his late uncle, Paul Thek, a renowned artist. An innovative painter, sculptor, an installation artist, Paul Thek first attained critical success in the mid-1960s when he created his Technological Reliquaries series, which featured realistic wax sculptures of flesh and limbs displayed in Formica and Plexiglas containers. Later in his career, Thek left New York City for Europe and shifted the focus of his work from small sculptures to ephemeral environments made of throwaway materials such as newspaper, flowers, and candles. In the mid-1970s, Thek returned to New York to find that, despite success in Europe’s art community, few people at home remembered his work. Although Thek continued to create innovative pieces until his death in 1988, he never was able to reenter the art world and was forced to support himself by working menial jobs. Since his untimely death at the age of 54, Thek's reputation and popularity have grown considerably. His work can be seen in collections at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC. Thek has also been featured in several books and cited as an influence on a number of subsequent artists. Mark Thek is president of Esterline Power Systems in Los Angeles, California. Mark Thek is also the nephew of the well-known artist Paul Thek. Paul Thek, who lived from 1933 to 1988, was a sculptor and painter. He was educated at the Art Students League of New York, Pratt Institute, and Cooper Union School of the Arts. His sculpture works, known as “meat pieces,” were constructed to resemble human flesh. These sculptures, part of a series called Technological Reliquaries, were made from wax. Paul Thek constructed them between 1964 and 1967. He also worked in charcoal and graphite, and he created monochrome oil paintings and abstract watercolors. During his lifetime, he earned prestige on the American arts scene. He participated in Andy Warhol’s Screen Test in 1964. His works are still a part of present-day Screen Test art displays. Additionally, from 2010 to 2011, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York presented a collection of his work titled Paul Thek: Diver, a Retrospective. Mark Thek is a physicist who is currently the President of Leach International, an Esterline Corporation company. Mark Thek, who is at work on a book called The Quantification of Human emotion, is the nephew of accomplished American artist Paul Thek. Born in 1933, Paul Thek hails from Brooklyn, New York, where he received his earliest art education from the Art Students League and the Pratt Institute. Thek studied at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and would eventually return to teach classes there as well. Paul Thek started out as a painter but later gained wider recognition as a sculptor and installation artist. He first came to the public eye in 1964 for his series "Technological Reliquaries," wax sculptures that resembled human flesh. By the end of the 60s, Paul Thek traveled to Europe and concentrated on pioneering the creation of environments that infused art, theater, religion, and literature. He was noted for using perishable materials, which added to the ephemeral nature of his work. Today, Paul Thek's work is included in several collections, including New York’s famous Whitney Museum of American Art. |
AuthorPresident of Esterline Power Systems - Mark Thek Archives
February 2021
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