Paul McCarthy is widely considered to be one of the most influential and ground-breaking contemporary American artists. This exhibition will focus on new works by McCarthy accompanied by screenings of recent film works by the artist. Born in 1945 and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, he first established a multi-faceted artistic practice which sought to break the limitations of painting by using unorthodox materials such as bodily fluids and food. He has since become known for visceral, often hauntingly humorous work in a variety of mediums—from performance, photography, film and video to sculpture, drawing and painting.
During the 1990s, he extended his practice into installations and stand-alone sculptural figures, utilizing a range of materials such as fiberglass, silicone, animatronics and inflatable vinyl. Playing on popular illusions and cultural myths, fantasy and reality collide in a delirious yet poignant exploration of the subconscious in works that simultaneously challenge the viewer's phenomenological expectations.
Whether absent or present, the human figure has been a constant in his work, either through the artist's own performances or the array of characters he creates to mix high and low culture and provoke an analysis of our fundamental beliefs. These playfully oversized characters and objects critique the worlds from which they are drawn: Hollywood, politics, philosophy, science, art, literature and television. McCarthy's work, thus, locates the traumas lurking behind the stage set of the American Dream and identifies their counterparts in the art historical canon.
Press release courtesy Hauser & Wirth.
23 Savile Row
London, W1S 2ET
United Kingdom
www.hauserwirth.com
+44 207 287 2300
+44 207 287 6600 (Fax)
Tues - Sat, 10am - 6pm