FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Paul McCarthy
Santa Chocolate Shop
February 17, 2001 – April 7, 2001
On February 17, Luhring Augustine will present the 1997 installation "Santa Chocolate Shop," on loan from the Flick Collection, and two recent sculptures by Paul McCarthy.
"Santa Chocolate Shop" consists of a videotape and a set. The set is a plywood structure for the production of the videotape. McCarthy flips the structure onto its back with all the props remaining in their original position. The video is projected from inside the set onto three walls in the gallery, transforming the structure into a type of projection booth. "Santa Chocolate Shop" was first shown in the 1997 Whitney Biennial.
The viewer peers into the structure through the windows and doors. While gazing at the tables, chairs, and other remnants of the performance, the viewer can also see the video, projected out onto the gallery walls, from the windows of the structure. The video functions as a metaphor of the projected memory of a body or of a building as body. Central to the piece is the notion of framed or selective viewing. One can only see what the framing of the windows and projection allows them to see, a symbol of cultural framing and conditioning.
Two new sculptures, "Wooden Boxhead" and "Gray/Blue Blockhead" will be featured in the second gallery. Both are sculptures of seated figures of Pinocchio. The two sculptures are maquette variations of a 90-foot inflatable sculpture McCarthy made for the EXPO 2000 in Hannover.
Paul McCarthy's work is in major museum collections around the world. "Santa Chocolate Shop" is being shown in conjunction with the Paul McCarthy retrospective at the New Museum, "The Garden," on view at Deitch Projects, and "The Box," which is on loan from Sammlung Hauser and Wirth, in St Gallen Switzerland. "The Box" is being shown at the IBM Building on 57th Street and Madison Avenue as a project of The New York Public Art Fund. For further information, please call Katy Schubert at 212/206-9100 or look on our website, www.luhringaugustine.com
