Paul McCarthy, the 80-year-old American artist known for his transgressive critiques of consumer culture, has opened a new exhibition titled "SS EE Saint Santa Eva Elf" at Hauser & Wirth in Paris. The show features large-scale drawings and a six-channel video installation created during filmed performances with his long-term collaborator, German actress Lilith Stangenberg, who plays the Elf. McCarthy revisits his iconic Santa Claus motif, portraying him as a dark, psychotic figure—the "god of capitalism and consumption." The exhibition also includes earlier drawings made with Stangenberg at Bowman Hal gallery in Madrid. The interview reveals that McCarthy's home and studios in Los Angeles were destroyed by wildfires, resulting in the loss of art, drawings, notebooks, and books, and the cancellation of a planned London show.
This article matters because it offers a rare, in-depth interview with one of contemporary art's most provocative and enduring figures, reflecting on personal catastrophe and artistic resilience. McCarthy's work continues to challenge societal norms and the commercialization of culture, using absurdity and taboo to critique power structures. The exhibition underscores his ongoing relevance in an era he describes as an "extreme absurdity," and the personal loss from the wildfires adds a poignant layer to his creative output. It also highlights the intersection of performance, drawing, and video in his practice, and the role of collaboration in his recent work.