Existing comment:
Paul Thek
born New York City 1933–died New York City 1988
Warrior's Leg, from the series Technological Reliquaries
1966–67
plexiglass, wax, leather, metal, and paint
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Joseph H. Hirshhorn Bequest Fund, 1990
In Warrior's Leg, Thek presents anamputated limb, clad in archaic armor and held in a sleek plexiglass box. Combining associations of religious votives with that of high-end retail display, the work suggests violence and sacrifice lurking beneath the appealing facade of American commercial culture. Created as U.S. troop numbers in Vietnam were increasing, Warrior's Leg reveals the artist's interest in Catholicism and sacred traditions while alluding to war themes: the rise and fall of empire and the cycle of death and martial sacrifice. |