August 4, 2006
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ART WARS
Continued from
Nov. 25, 2005The Frankfurter SchoolFrom today’s New York Times:
A review of a current Manhattan art exhibition–
“It
begins with a juxtaposition of early body-oriented videos by Mr. Nauman
and Paul McCarthy, who, quickly following Mr. Nauman’s lead, was in his
studio in Los Angeles videotaping home-alone performance pieces by
1970. The contrast is pure Apollo-versus-Dionysus.”More on Paul McCarthy from artandculture.com:
“If
you walk into a room and find everything you held dear in childhood
degraded, chances are it’s a Paul McCarthy installation. McCarthy is
known for shocking, sexually charged pieces that feature benign cartoon
and pop-culture characters — Olive Oyl and Santa Claus, among others
– in a bacchanalia of blood and feces.The 1974 video ‘Hot Dog’ shoots to the heart of the adolescent
‘gross-out’ as McCarthy tapes his penis into a hot dog bun, then packs
his pie hole full of franks and wraps himself in gauze. Another piece
from the 70s called ‘Sailor’s Meat’ finds the artist dressed as a
blonde hooker smeared with blood and ‘knowing’ a pile of raw meat….Critics often compare his work with that of the Viennese Actionists
whose performances were also characterized by gore, raw sexuality, and
abused food.”
Related material:
The Wiener Kreis in
yesterday’s 1:06 PM entry
and the five entries
ending the afternoon of
Nov. 25, 2005.For an approach to art
more in the spirit of Apollo
than of Dionysus, see
Geometry for Jews.
