Paul McCarthy dominates the New York art scene this season
![Outdoor sculpture, 'Balloon Dog' at Frieze New York's Sculpture Park](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/gUvY6hvthkaKntdGE8maY9-415-80.jpg)
Every dog may have its day, but in the case of the provocative artist Paul McCarthy, the dog seems to be having a whole season. The artist is dominating the New York art scene this Spring with a little help from Hauser & Wirth gallery, which is devoting both of its spaces in the city to separate exhibitions of his work, as well as showing an 80ft tall McCarthy sculpture at Frieze Art Fair. Following these, his much anticipated installation, 'WS', will go on show at the Park Avenue Armory on 19 June - which you can preview in our very own McCarthy special in this month’s issue.
As our bound-in portfolio this month shows, McCarthy has been long obsessed with blurring the lines between reality and desire. By using the Walt Disney telling of Snow White and appropriating familiar ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ imagery (the focus of a third exhibition, ‘Rebel Dabble Babble’ opening at Hauser & Wirth downtown on 20 June) McCarthy’s perverse and erotic delivery is complex and impactful.
Last Friday, Hauser & Wirth’s new downtown space unveiled ‘Sculptures', a series of black walnut wood sculptures, inspired by McCarthy’s ongoing interpretation of the Snow White fairytale. McCarthy used a complex combination of woodcarving and bronze casting to create the perfectly twisted final products; each is larger-than-life and abstractedly misshapen to be more akin to the original German folk story than the popular naïve fairytale. One sculpture, ‘White Snow and Prince on Horseback’ show the happy couple, fused together at their enlarged heads, eerily riding off into the distance.
Concurrently at the gallery’s uptown space, ‘Life Cast’ showcases five platinum silicone life cast nude figures – four of McCarthy’s muse Elyse Poppers (who plays White Snow) and one of the artist himself. 'This is not looking at realism as a finality, but as a process,' the artist explained. '[The woman] is real, but she’s in a state of unreal because she’s not exactly there. It was about capturing the compression of time.'
'I made a series of drawings of my wife in the same [seated] position in the 1960s… and the subject came back to me about ten years ago,' McCarthy continued. 'I wanted to make this piece quite a long time ago. I think I was looking for someone who understood it. Looking for that was critical. I wasn’t looking for another fucking technician.'
The artist worked with a team of five to create the full scale, hyper-real sculptures, which depict even the tiniest details, from hairs on the arms to veins running underneath the skin, in full authenticity. 'You’re going deeper for a reason. You’re not making another sex doll. $10,000 will buy you anything. I believed in the subject and I needed people who believed in the subject.'
Another McCarthy work, ‘Balloon Dog’, is commanding attention at Frieze New York’s sculpture park on Randall’s Island. The vast sculpture is a real moving balloon, instead of a photographic sculpture that one might have expected. The no-holds-barred scale and pop-cultural tone is (Paul) McCarthyism at its best - and a great precursor to the grand reveal of ‘WS’ next month.
'Balloon Dog', 2013. Courtesy John Berens/Frieze.
'Sculptures' is being held at Hauser & Wirth's new downtown outpost.
Pictured: 'White Snow, Cindy', 2013. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
'White Snow, Flower Girl', 2012-2013.
Detail of 'White Snow, Flower Girl', 2012-2013.
'White Snow and the Prince on Horseback', 2012. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
'Dopey Wood Group', 2011. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
Concurrently, the gallery is presenting 'Life Casts' at their space on 69th Street.
Pictured: 'T.G. Life casts', 2012-2013. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
'Horizontal', 2012. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
'Horizontal', 2012. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
Detail of 'Horizontal', 2012. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
In June the gallery will unveil the third and final McCarthy exhibition, 'Rebel Dabble Babble'.
Pictured: Photograph taken during the filming of 'Rebel Dabble Babble', by Paul McCarthy and Damon McCarthy, 2011-2012. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
Photographs taken during the filming of 'Rebel Dabble Babble', by Paul McCarthy and Damon McCarthy, 2011-2012. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photography: Joshua White
ADDRESS
Hauser & Wirth
32 East 69th Street
New York
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Pei-Ru Keh is a former US Editor at Wallpaper*. Born and raised in Singapore, she has been a New Yorker since 2013. Pei-Ru held various titles at Wallpaper* between 2007 and 2023. She reports on design, tech, art, architecture, fashion, beauty and lifestyle happenings in the United States, both in print and digitally. Pei-Ru took a key role in championing diversity and representation within Wallpaper's content pillars, actively seeking out stories that reflect a wide range of perspectives. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children, and is currently learning how to drive.
-
Feel at home at Auberge, Château La Coste's new inn for culture lovers
Auberge La Coste sits at the heart of the art-filled estate, minutes away from the joyful town of Aix-en-Provence
By Harriet Thorpe Published
-
This Nova Lima apartment is a Brazilian family oasis with striking Minas Gerais views
A Nova Lima apartment designed by Jacobsen Arquitetura celebrates its long, natural Minas Gerais vistas
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
Alexander May, founder of LA studio Sized, on the joys of creative polymathy
Creative director Alexander May tells us of the multidisciplinary approach that drives his LA studio Sized and its offspring, a 5,000 sq ft event space and an exhibition series
By Hannah Silver Published
-
50 of America’s top creatives, photographed by Inez & Vinoodh
Photographed exclusively for Wallpaper* by Inez & Vinoodh, we present a portfolio of 50 creatives driving the current discourse on American culture and its dynamic evolution
By Dan Howarth Published
-
Nona Faustine confronts the past in New York
Artist Nona Faustine reframes New York's colonial past in an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum
By Hannah Silver Published
-
How the west won: Ivan McClellan is amplifying the intrepid beauty of Black cowboy culture
In his new book, 'Eight Seconds: Black Cowboy Culture', Ivan McClellan draws us into the world of Black rodeo. Wallpaper* meets the photographer ahead of his Juneteenth Rodeo
By Tracy Kawalik Published
-
Casa Bosques’ queer-themed book curation comes to New York’s East Village
In Pride Month 2024, Casa Bosques’ pop-up bookstore in The Standard hotel, East Village, offers a stylish haven for literary mavens
By Hannah Silver Published
-
‘Very few museums were interested in my work until recently’: Amalia Mesa-Bains on her first-ever retrospective
‘Amalia Mesa-Bains: Archaeology of Memory’ is a long-overdue exhibition at El Museo del Barrio in New York celebrating five decades of the trailblazing Chicanx artist
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Frieze New York 2024: what to see in and around the city
Frieze New York 2024 (until Sunday 5 May) sees the city’s ample spring season programming celebrated at The Shed
By Osman Can Yerebakan Published
-
Calling NYC grads! Sarabande Foundation invites you to an industry masterclass to pave way into the creative world
‘What Now?’ by Sarabande Foundation is a post-college guide to support graduates in making their next steps, with advice from the likes of Burberry, Thom Browne, and more
By Tianna Williams Published