Paul McCarthy is an artist celebrated and at the same time heavily criticized by the settled artworld. His Art is embracing the easy communication of Disney and horror movies but on the other side it has a dense psychological complexity.
Paul McCarthy’s oeuvre contains big hilarious sculptures like the big balloon called ‘Daddies Bighead’, have you ever seen the male better visualized :-). It’s based on the Pinocchio character from Disney, but the innocence of the original is replaced by masses of pink with boobs and all kind of phalluses sticking out. Could easily by the symbol of the general male surfing for his daily dose of porn. An other part of his work are the messy performances with theme’s like sexuality, birth and domination. The performance takes place in a small setting with an audience, but that’s only a part of the artwork. After filming the performance he uses them again in installations where he is Miss Piggy or Heidi. And of course lots of ketchup, Mayonnaise and chocolate sauce.
Some more information about Paul McCarthy:
Tate Modern
McCarthy on the VPRO website (dutch)
Paul Mc Carthy on the New Museum website
