until Sunday January 24 2016

The Renaissance Society
T : +1 (773) 702 86 70
5811 S. Ellis - Avenue Bergman Gallery, Cobb Hall 418
60637 Ill Chicago
United States

DRAWINGS

Known widely for his prolific output of video, sculpture, performance, and installation, Paul McCarthy also works extensively in two dimensions. The ongoing series White Snow, first exhibited at Hauser & Wirth New York in 2009 and now encompassing hundreds of works, reveals the artist’s deft draftsmanship and layered, gestural approach to drawing. His presentation at the Renaissance Society features over 75 rarely and never before seen works from the series, produced between 2008 and 2015.

Sex and mythology, bodies and violence, death and humor—these works are at once familiar and repulsive. With his characteristic irreverent wit, McCarthy melds the iconic 1937 Walt Disney depiction of Snow White with the darker forces of the fairy tale’s earlier incarnations. The selection here features figures in various stages of erotic play, architectural renderings, and textual annotation, ranging in size from small sketches to large collages. Also included are preparatory works for McCarthy’s major installation, WS, at the Park Avenue Armory, New York in 2013. The drawings represent the threshold between fantasy and reality, the point at which the artist’s imagination directly crosses over into the physical realm before being further developed into three-dimensional and time-based works.