Paul McCarthy

Diving into the world of Paul McCarthy will crack open your brain, and reveal one of the truest artistic expressions of our time. And for all its complexities, it’s also incredibly simple. McCarthy articulates his view of the world first and foremost, and you’re along for the ride. But that’s not his focus. These deranged, grotesque depictions of familiar stories and characters are tweaked just enough to be recognizable, and overwhelmingly and excruciatingly divergent. 

Since the 1960s, Paul McCarthy’s performances place him in the central role often depicting a bizarro, fill-in-the blank male archetype, an abstract commentary on the world we’re living in and the times we’re living through. He’s embodied abstractions of such personas as Walt Disney, JP Morgan, Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler. He has created a rich universe of his own, fusing his versions of known figures through a successive collection of film, drawings, digital and multimedia, and paintings as well as performance, sculpture and iconic public installations. 

His work has been described as scatalogical, a funhouse, a spiral, a cracked mirror, a dream state, and all of these are correct. McCarthy builds intentional spaces with his film sets, mirroring his childhood home and other settings such as a saloon, a stagecoach, and a kitchen. Looking at the trajectory of his work, each chapter fits into different rooms in the house, each door opens to another conceptual interpretation of McCarthy’s world. Weaving through the space connects each idea and allows a view from outside of this metaphorical house. This is where our understanding of McCarthy becomes fractured. Does he want us to connect the dots? Is it possible? Perhaps it’s navigating these hallways and corridors between rooms that holds the truth of McCarthy’s work.