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.

  • Title: Paul McCarthy
  • Popularity: 0.003
  • Known For: Directing
  • Birthday: 1945-08-04
  • Place of Birth: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As:
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Paul McCarthy Movies

  • 1976
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    Class Fool

    Class Fool

    1 1976 HD

    In a shamanistic, quasi-sexual ritual performance, McCarthy threw himself around a ketchup-spattered classroom at the University of California, San...

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  • 1975
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    Black and White Tapes

    Black and White Tapes

    1 1975 HD

    Black and White Tapes derive from a series of performances Paul McCarthy undertook in his Los Angeles studio from 1970 to 1975. Conceived for the...

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  • 2001
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    Paul McCarthy: Destruction of the Body

    Paul McCarthy: Destruction of the Body

    1 2001 HD

    Drawing on the idiom and imagery of the consumer culture he grew up in, video artist Paul McCarthy distorts and mutates the familiar into the...

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  • 1974
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    Sauce

    Sauce

    1 1974 HD

    Performance art piece

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  • 2014
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    The Art Foundry

    The Art Foundry

    1 2014 HD

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  • 1975
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    Sailor's Meat (Sailor's Delight)

    Sailor's Meat (Sailor's Delight)

    1 1975 HD

    Here, the artist performs as the female protagonist of Russ Meyer’s soft-porn film, Europe in the Raw! (1963). Done up in black lace lingerie,...

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  • 2020
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    Becoming Paul McCarthy

    Becoming Paul McCarthy

    1 2020 HD

    On the influential and groundbreaking contemporary American artist

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  • 1987
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    Family Tyranny (Modeling and Molding)

    Family Tyranny (Modeling and Molding)

    1 1987 HD

    Experimental video about child abuse. McCarthy: "I was given access to a community television studio for two days of shooting and one day of...

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  • 1987
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    Cultural Soup

    Cultural Soup

    1 1987 HD

    A man makes soup with mayonnaise and dolls. McCarthy: "I was given access to a community television studio for two days of shooting and one day of...

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  • 1992
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    Heidi: Midlife Crisis Trauma Center and Negative Media-Engram Abreaction Release Zone

    Heidi: Midlife Crisis Trauma Center and Negative Media-Engram Abreaction Release Zone

    1 1992 HD

    A collaborative work based on Joanna Spyri's novel, Heidi.. The entire work consisted of a fabricated set, a group of partial and full life-size...

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  • 2019
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    Coach Stage Stage Coach

    Coach Stage Stage Coach

    1 2019 HD

    Paul McCarthy's reinterpretation of John Ford's classic western Stagecoach.

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  • 2019
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    Coach Stage Stage Coach

    Coach Stage Stage Coach

    1 2019 HD

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  • 2019
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    Coach Stage Stage Coach

    Coach Stage Stage Coach

    1 2019 HD

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  • 1975
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    Black and White Tapes

    Black and White Tapes

    1 1975 HD

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  • 1974
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    Sauce

    Sauce

    1 1974 HD

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  • 1995
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    Fresh Acconci

    Fresh Acconci

    1 1995 HD

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  • 1976
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    Rocky

    Rocky

    1 1976 HD

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  • 2010
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    Aryan Death Ship

    Aryan Death Ship

    1 2010 HD

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  • 1975
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    Sailor's Meat (Sailor's Delight)

    Sailor's Meat (Sailor's Delight)

    1 1975 HD

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  • 1975
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    Experimental Dancer

    Experimental Dancer

    1 1975 HD

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  • 1976
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    Class Fool

    Class Fool

    1 1976 HD

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  • 1976
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    Class Fool

    Class Fool

    1 1976 HD

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  • 1998
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    Out O' Actions

    Out O' Actions

    1 1998 HD

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  • 1991
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    Bossy Burger

    Bossy Burger

    1 1991 HD

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  • 1995
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    Painter

    Painter

    10 1995 HD

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  • 1994
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    Pinocchio Pipenose Household Dilemma

    Pinocchio Pipenose Household Dilemma

    1 1994 HD

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  • 2001
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    Heidi’s Four Basket Dances

    Heidi’s Four Basket Dances

    1 2001 HD

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  • 1992
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    Heidi: Midlife Crisis Trauma Center and Negative Media-Engram Abreaction Release Zone

    Heidi: Midlife Crisis Trauma Center and Negative Media-Engram Abreaction Release Zone

    1 1992 HD

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