Celebrated American artist Paul McCarthy continues to mine the depths of contemporary society with an exhibition of large-scale drawings at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles. Opening 2 June, the works on view confront and interrogate the entrenched psychological and emotional complexities of power and politics. The exhibition focuses on the Los Angeles debut of new and recent ‘A&E’ drawings, an offshoot of McCarthy’s ongoing video series with German actor Lilith Stangenberg. An acronym for Adolf & Eva, Adam & Eve, and Arts & Entertainment, ‘A&E’ is a multi-disciplinary project that evolved out of the artist’s film project ‘NV Night Vater’ (2019 – ). Originally drawing from Liliana Cavani’s sadomasochistic erotic drama ‘The Night Porter’ (1974), the project continues McCarthy’s exploration of the origins of fascism, Hollywood, the contemporary art world, and the current political climate.
These drawings, created by McCarthy during improvised filmed performances between himself and Stangenberg while in character as versions of Adolf and Eva, serve as documentation of both McCarthy’s incisive critical lens and his career-spanning omnivorous practice including performance, film, and drawing. The A&E drawings will be accompanied by a video work along with the platform sculpture the drawing performances were enacted upon.
A solo exhibition of McCarthy’s work, ‘Dead End Hole,’ was recently on view at KODE Museum in Bergen, Norway. In 2019 his works on paper were the subject of a major survey entitled ‘Head Space: Drawings 1963 – 2019’ at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.
