Paul McCarthy

Paul McCarthy

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.
    Known for
    Directing
    Place of birth
    Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
    Birthday
    8/4/1945
Class Fool
Class Fool
0
Black and White Tapes
Black and White Tapes
0
Paul McCarthy: Destruction of the Body
Paul McCarthy: Destruction of the Body
0
Sauce
Sauce
0
The Art Foundry
The Art Foundry
0
Sailor's Meat (Sailor's Delight)
Sailor's Meat (Sailor's Delight)
0
Becoming Paul McCarthy
Becoming Paul McCarthy
0
Family Tyranny (Modeling and Molding)
Family Tyranny (Modeling and Molding)
0
Cultural Soup
Cultural Soup
0
Heidi: Midlife Crisis Trauma Center and Negative Media-Engram Abreaction Release Zone
Heidi: Midlife Crisis Trauma Center and Negative Media-Engram Abreaction Release Zone
0
Coach Stage Stage Coach
Coach Stage Stage Coach
0
Logo
Nuxt Movies
Made with

Data provided by 

This project uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.

Language: