Paul McCarthy is famous for provocative performances, multimedia
installations, and sculptures that fuse elements of high and low culture
into biting critiques of American mythologies and politics. McCarthy’s
work is often graphic, violent, and sexual in nature. In Caribbean Pirates (2001–05), for example, the artist riffed on the famed Disneyland ride and movie franchise Pirates of the Caribbean—his
installation and video work featured acts of gratuitous violence,
commenting on both Hollywood formulas and prisoner abuse. For Train, Mechanical
(2003–09), McCarthy created a pair of larger-than-life animated
sculptures of George W. Bush mounting pigs from behind. In 2014, he
exhibited a public sculpture in France entitled Tree that
resembled a sex toy and engendered signficant backlash. McCarthy has
exhibited in New York, London, Paris, Seoul, Tokyo, and Los Angeles.