Paul McCarthy's latest show, currently running at Maccarone (630 Greenwich Street) through 24 December, employs themes that the artist has been discussing for decades: unbridled sexuality, iconography in popular culture, the role of fame in public life, politics, and the nature of violence. His new show continues a number of these themes, if only in a manner that can only be described as charming. For this show McCarthy turned the gallery into a fully-functioning chocolate factory, in which workers, under the direction of master chocolatier Peter P. Greweling, produce 1-lbs Santas composed entirely of, well, chocolate. However, McCarthy's edible version of the holiday icon, sold at $100 a piece and packaged in boxes filled with shredded copies of Artforum, is accompanied by a molded butt plug, that most democratic and accessible of sex toys. (Do we really need another reason to eat in bed?) McCarthy, of course, has always been interested in psychological disruption, shock treatments, and in exploring base desires--as well as the impulses that drive them. Using foodstuffs to explore these themes (like mayonnaise, hot dogs, and ketchup), McCarthy makes it a point to jar us out of our emotional and physical havens, as if to reinforce the notion that comfort has no place in the modern world, and that even our most precious of cultural artifacts are subject to corruption. Collectors, get your checkbooks ready.
http://www.peterpaulchocolates.com
http://www.maccarone.net
http://www.ubu.com/film/mccarthy.html
2 comments:
that is hilarious. Is the butt plug made of chocolate too? whoever wrote this should be an art critic.
Yeah, the butt plug is made of chocolate. It's all chocolate.
I'm not gonna spend a $100 on this, though.
Actually, yeah, I will.
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