Exhibition review Paul McCarthy

           Video  ‘Painter’ 1995

 　　　　　　　　　　　　

Complex Piles, 2007   

exhibition view,2014

exhibition view,2014

performance view,2014

Exhibition title  ’Powered A-Hole Spanish Donkey Sport Dick Drink Donkey Dong Dongs Sunscreen Model’

Paul McCarthy (1945-) is an American artist who treats taboo themes such as sex, violence and excretion, and makes sensational video and sculpture. He and his collaborator Mike Bouchet’s new exhibition was held at the portikus exhibition hall in Frankfurt. It had both Paul McCarthy’s familiar concept and a new challenge.

Paul McCarthy was inspired by Vienna actionism and made performance art that has serious moods in the early phase of his career, for example, he played house、covered in tomato ketchup that reminds of blood in his video work. Afterwards, he broke away concept of Vienna actionism clearly and started to make work that kept sensation and added pop mood, for example, huge balloon sculpture that was shaped dungs and performance in which cartoon-character costumes was worn. In the first room of this exhibition, his work still had violence and sexual moods such as video work Naked McCarthy and some volunteers playing with foods on a table. However, his new performance did not have former energetic attraction and when I watched it, I thought it was an inferior copy of his early work.

However, after looking around all exhibition spaces, I found he intend it and challenge new concept in compensation for his work loss sensation. Content of His previous work was quite sensational, although recently he outputted it as standard art forms such as simple video and sculpture. However, he mainly showed traces of his performance that looked mere dirty rooms in this show. When I entered those rooms, I felt I enter the world of his video and actually it seemed close to our daily life that difference from my impression from his video. He made this show as the place that visitors and volunteers can touch his world deeply. His former work was far from our daily life for spectator, but this exhibition remind us that he do not make fictional world in his video work but focus on our life that has violence and sexual aspects. They also hold an opening event that they supplied BBQ ram to visitors and a lot of people ate it. The scene a lot of people crowd it looked strange situation that we can see human violence instinct. And visitors who ate BBQ ram became one of his artwork that changing familiar scene to violence one.   

Early McCarthy’s works were really sensational and visitors cannot realise his work and our world are same world, but this exhibition was interactive and we can feel his work refer to our daily life. This is a quite important development to present his concept and challenge to new art context by utilising gallery space, but it seems like his most important attraction that is challenge to taboos of our society became weak.

Bibliography

Lles, C. (2008) central symmetrical rotation movement: three installations, two films New York: Whitney Museum of American Art

McCarthy,C. (2004) Paul McCarthy. Piccadilly Circus. Zurich: Scalo

Petersens,M. (2006) Paul McCarthy Head Shop/Shop Head Germany: Moderna Museet

Rosenthal,S. (2005) Paul McCarthy : lala land, parody paradise Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz