 Mechanical Pig, 2005 silicone, platinum/fiberglass, metal, electrical components, 101.6 x 147.3 x157.5 cm Paul McCarthy LaLa Land Parody Paradise American artist Paul McCarthy is one of the most influential artists of his generation. Revealing the darker side of American and European myths, his work transforms popular icons from Pinocchio to Santa Claus into disturbing, carnivalesque scenarios. McCarthy's provocative early performances in the late 1960s and 70s used his own body as the raw material to explore masculinity. Drawing on performance art and action painting, he substituted the Viennese Actionists' sacrificial use of blood with ketchup and the Abstract Expressionists' paintbrush with phallic false limbs. From the 1980s and 90s McCarthy's stage sets, masks and props became sculptures, mechanised figures, video installations and environments that are often violently, sexually and politically charged. At the Whitechapel, drawings, sculptures, films and installations range from a life-size waxwork of the artist asleep to an automated breathing, dreaming pig. Dating from the early 1960s to the present day the exhibition reveals the consistency of the artist's thinking and working process throughout his career. Alongside recordings of his physical actions as well as drawings and sculptures of pirates, McCarthy's architectural maquettes and ships appear as metaphors for the human body. Seen as a whole, this sprawling accumulation of objects displays an urgent, energetic enquiry, exposing the artist's desire to use art as a way of venting trauma. The show continues with a major off-site installation of McCarthy's new work "Caribbean Pirates" in a warehouse near the Gallery. Developed from a conversation between the artist and his son, this work takes the Pirates of the Caribbean Disneyland theme park ride as its inspiration to explore themes of invasion and occupation of foreign lands. A life-sized frigate, a houseboat and a huge kinetic machine bear the gory remains of a month-long film shoot featuring 30 buccaneers and wenches engaged in increasingly brutal antics. The Whitechapel's show is the largest presentation of McCarthy's work in the UK. At once violent, obscene and grotesque, his visions raid our collective memories revisiting popular myths that resonate with contemporary global events. Sponsors and supporters: Haus der Kunst, Munich; Hauser & Wirth, Zurich London; Luhring Augustine, New York; The Henry Moore Foundation; Coppermill Ltd; i-D Magazine Exhibition: 23 October 2005 - 8 January 2006 Gallery hours: Tue-Sun 11 am - 6 pm, Thursdays until 9 pm Whitechapel Art Gallery 80-82 Whitechapel High Street GB-London E1 7QX Telephone +44 20 7522 7878 (recorded information) Fax +44 20 7377 1685 Email info@whitechapel.org www.whitechapel.org |
 |