highlike

Paul McCarthy

بول مكارثي
保罗麦卡锡
פול מקארת’י
ポール·マッカーシー
폴 맥카시
ПОЛ МАККАРТИ

TRAIN, MECHANICAL
Chocolate Blockhead

Paul McCarthy  Chocolate Blockhead

source: pbsorg
Paul McCarthy was born in 1945 in Salt Lake City. He studied at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City (1968–69); earned a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute (1969) and an MFA from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles (1972); and was a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (1984–2003). Paul McCarthy’s video-taped performances and provocative multimedia installations lampoon polite society, ridicule authority, and bombard the viewer with a sensory overload, of often sexually-tinged, violent imagery. With irreverent wit, McCarthy often takes aim at cherished American myths and icons—Walt Disney, the Western, and even the Modern Artist—adding a touch of malice to subjects that have been traditionally revered for their innocence or purity. Absent or present, the human figure is a constant element in his work, whether in the form of bodies in action, satirical caricatures, or animistic sculptures; as the residue of a private ritual; or as architectural space left uninhabited for the viewer to occupy. Whether conflating real-world political figures with fantastical characters such as Santa Claus, or treating erotic and abject content with frivolity and charm, McCarthy’s work confuses codes, mixes high and low culture, and provokes an analysis of fundamental beliefs. His work has been shown in major exhibitions at California College of the Arts, Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2009); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2008); Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent (2007); Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2006); and Haus der Kunst, Munich (2005); among others. He has participated in many international events, including the Berlin Biennial (2006); SITE Santa Fe (2004); Whitney Biennial (1995, 1997, 2004); and the Venice Biennale (1993, 1999, 2001). Paul McCarthy lives and works in Altadena, California.
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source: eaiorg
While still a student, Paul McCarthy threw himself out of a second floor window in a performance/action, emulating Yves Klein’s legendary “Leap into the Void.” McCarthy was an influential figure in the Southern California art and performance scene for decades before achieving international recognition. His performance work in the late 1970s explored areas of Dionysian and shamanistic initiation rituals, as well as the body and sexuality. The intensity of these performances, which often included the graphic depiction of taboo subjects, eventually led to his use of video and installation as primary media.
Mining the depths of the family and childhood via kitsch and pop cultural detritus, the body and sexuality, and an often outrageous theatricality, McCarthy’s works inhabit a violent landscape of dysfunction and trauma. In many of his works, he adopts a performance persona that appears crazed, witch-like, or infantile. McCarthy’s works often involve liquids, from bodily fluids to paint; one performance involved mixing his own blood with food, an obsessive gesture that is simulated in Family Tyranny.
In the late 1980s, McCarthy began using film and television sets as elements in video/performance installations. Often these elaborate fabrications involved the restaging of culturally-charged myths and icons, such as Heidi and Pinocchio, in the context of family psychodramas, Hollywood genres, and mass media.
Although several of the works in this selection have been made in collaboration with Mike Kelley, themes and images that are distinctly McCarthy’s are always evident.
McCarthy was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1945. After attending the University of Utah, he received his B.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute, and his M.F.A. from the University of Southern California. His work has been shown in the 1993 Venice Biennale and Sonsbeek ’93, Arnheim, and in exhibitions at Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; The Guggenheim Museum Soho, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and Musee d’Art Contemporain, Lausanne, Switzerland, among many others. Solo exhibitions of McCarthy’s work have been organized by Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Denmark; Tate Modern, London; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo, Norway; Galerie Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, Switzerland; Galerie Art & Public, Geneva, Switzerland; Hamburg Kunsthalle, Germany; Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York; New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, and Air de Paris, Nice. He lives in Altadena, California.
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source: pbsorg
Artiste né au lendemain de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, Paul McCarthy est une figure importante de l’art des années 1970, période d’explosion de la pratique de la performance ou du happening dans l’art contemporain.Après avoir étudié l’art à l’université de l’Utah à partir de 1969, McCarthy suit des cours de peinture à l’Art Institute de San Francisco, puis étudie le cinéma et la vidéo. Depuis 1982 il enseigne l’art de la performance, l’installation et la vidéo à l’université de Californie de Los Angeles.D’abord peintre, McCarthy porte son intérêt sur les éléments du quotidien et le chaos qu’ils provoquent. Ses premières oeuvres montrent l’influence d’Allan Kaprow, l’un des premiers « performers », et des actionnistes viennois qui cherchèrent à dépasser les limites de la peinture en usant de leur corps comme d’un outil. Ainsi inclut-il dans ses oeuvres des fluides corporels ou de la nourriture. Dans la vidéo Painting, Wall Whip (1974), McCarthy peint avec son visage, s’enduisant le corps de peinture, de ketchup, de mayonnaise et d’excréments. L’artiste, usant tant de la vidéo que de la performance, de l’installation ou de la photographie, teste ainsi ses propres limites émotionnelles et celles des spectateurs.Les oeuvres plus récentes de l’artiste cherchent à saper le mythe de la grandeur de l’artiste et attaquent le cliché de l’artiste masculin héroïque.Paul McCarthy vit et travaille à Los Angeles.Quelques oeuvres majeures :
Mountain Bowling (1969)
Hold an Apple in Your Armpit (1970)
Painting, Wall Whip (1974)
Class Fool (1976)
Painter (1995)
Mechanical Pig (2005, ill.)