Date: 2003
Medium: Photo | Print
Piccadilly Circus
Paul McCarthy
Paul McCarthy
Piccadilly Circus, 2003
45 color photographs
40.8 x 28.7 cm | 28.7 x 40.8 cm (each, unframed)
42 x 30 x 2.5 cm | 30 x 42 x 2.5 cm (each, framed)
TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection
Photo: Courtesy the artist | Hauser & Wirth
Paul McCarthy
Piccadilly Circus, 2003
45 color photographs
40.8 x 28.7 cm | 28.7 x 40.8 cm (each, unframed)
42 x 30 x 2.5 cm | 30 x 42 x 2.5 cm (each, framed)
TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection
Photo: Courtesy the artist | Hauser & Wirth
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- Date
- 2003
- Medium
- 45 color photographs
- Dimension
- 40.8 x 28.7 cm | 28.7 x 40.8 cm (each, unframed) 42 x 30 x 2.5 cm | 30 x 42 x 2.5 cm (each, framed)
- Credit
TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection
- This artwork is part of the donation and long-term loan from TBA21 to the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza.
Details
For the opening of Hauser & Wirth Gallery in 2003 in a former London bank building, Paul McCarthy conceived the performance/installation Piccadilly Circus. McCarthy created puppetish characters with oversized masks and clownish costumes that give the figures a comic-like quality and refer to notable leaders of our time. The often disturbing actions hint at powerful psychological dysfunctions like regression, self-destructiveness, and obsession. With the characters multiplying their images and growing increasingly indistinct, an impression of increasing isolation and helplessness forces itself on the viewer. The key moments of the performance can be seen in the 45-part photo series, Piccadilly Circus and in the photography installation, Basement Bunker: Painted Queen Small Blue Room.
