Until 5 February 2006

+ Share

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.

Gallery
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.

Off-site
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.


Admission to Paul McCarthy
£7.50/4.50, free for Whitechapel Associates, Patrons and Members. Free for under 16s accompanied by an adult.


Coppermill House 78-90
Cheshire Street, London E2 6EH

Paul McCarthy - LaLa Land Parody Paradise has been organised with Haus der Kunst, Munich, is curated by Stephanie Rosenthal, Haus der Kunst, Munich.
The London venue is made possible by the generous support of Hauser & Wirth, Zürich London and Luhring Augustine, New York.

With generous support from
The Henry Moore Foundation

Off-site installation supported by


Media Partner


Please note: some works in this exhibition are of a sexually explicit and violent nature and are not suitable for people under the age of 16. Disabled access at the off-site installation may be restricted.