23 October 2005 - 8 January 2006

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Due to popular demand, Paul McCarthy’s major new work Caribbean Pirates continues in a warehouse 10 mins walk from the Gallery.
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.

The exhibition is 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.

£4.50/3 concessions. Free for Whitechapel Associates, Patrons & Members. Free for under 16s accompanied by an adult.
Please note: The works in this exhibition are of an explicit and violent nature and are not suitable for young viewers.

Open
Tues – Sun 12 – 6pm, Thurs 12 – 8.30pm

Coppermill House
78 – 90 Cheshire Street, E2 6EH
+44 (0)20 7522 7888