- Known For
- Directing
- Born
- August 4, 1945
- Place of Birth
- Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
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 c…
Filmography
NPP1P2, WAR PIG, Drawing Session
movieNPP1P2, WAR PIG, Drawing Session
2025 · Director
A&E, Adolf & Eva / Adam & Eve, Mother
movieA&E, Adolf & Eva / Adam & Eve, Mother
2025 · Director
A&E, Adolf & Eva / Adam & Eve, Cooking Show, Kitchen
movieA&E, Adolf & Eva / Adam & Eve, Cooking Show, Kitchen
2023 · Director
movieBecoming Paul McCarthy
2020 · Self
movieCoach Stage Stage Coach
2019 · , Writer, Director
movieThe Art Foundry
2014
movieAryan Death Ship
2010 · Director
movieHeidi’s Four Basket Dances
2001 · Director
moviePaul McCarthy: Destruction of the Body
2001
Out O' Actions
movieOut O' Actions
1998 · Director
movieFresh Acconci
1995 · Director
moviePainter
1995 · Director
moviePinocchio Pipenose Household Dilemma
1994 · Director
movieHeidi: Midlife Crisis Trauma Center and Negative Media-Engram Abreaction Release Zone
1992 · , Director
movieBossy Burger
1991 · Director
movieFamily Tyranny (Modeling and Molding)
1987 · Father
movieCultural Soup
1987
movieRocky
1976 · Director
movieClass Fool
1976 · Self, Writer, Director
movieExperimental Dancer
1975 · Director
movieBlack and White Tapes
1975 · , Director
movieSailor's Meat (Sailor's Delight)
1975 · , Director
movieBasement Clown
1975 · Director
movieSauce
1974 · , Director
movieRed Poster Tapes
1972 · Director
Ma Bell
movieMa Bell
1971 · Director
Wolf-Pig
movieWolf-Pig
— · Director