Paul McCarthy

Paul McCarthy (born August 4, 1945), is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

Often considered to be influenced by Viennese Actionism, however McCarthy disagreed and found his work was very different. "Vienna is not Los Angeles. My work came out of kids' television in Los Angeles. I didn’t go through Catholicism and World War II as a teenager; I didn't live in a European environment. People make references to Viennese art without really questioning the fact that there is a big difference between ketchup and blood. I never thought of my work as shamanistic. My work is more about being a clown than a shaman."McCarthy’s work portrays the message of “the myth of artistic greatness” and ignores the perception of the heroic male artist.

Paul McCarthy’s new edition of sculptures has been put of display in the galleries of Hauser & Writh. McCarthy’s work represents the mayhem and fictive universe of his unique style making it a new idea for modern art making. 

Captain Ballsack (Original) (2001-2009) is a heterogeneous three metre high sculpture that combines clay, carpet, foam and fibreglass with found objects. His giant cleft chin is in fact an enormous rancid-looking scrotum. On a pair of knock-kneed legs, he stands on a red- carpeted platform with what looks to be semen over it its a kind of extreme cartoon character.

George Bush is featured alongside pigs in several new sculptures. Mountain (2009), shown in the gallery, is a foam sculpture of Bush heads and pig bodies resting upon auction catalogues. The sculptures show each of the figures performing actions, moving backwards and forward spinning their heads around following the viewers around the space.

Viewing the gallery I seemed to have found the sculptures were half finished figures which is a part of McCarthy’s work that he tries to portray as being unique. Every detail of each sculpture is positioned as if it were a film set. Different from the picture perfect Disney fairytales, McCarthy suggests his “pig island” shows off its unfinished state, giving the viewer the process and development of his never ending work.