Paul McCarthy: Innocence (Video Works 1970-2013)

M WOODS is proud to present a solo exhibition by American master Paul McCarthy (b. 1945), a veteran of the Los Angeles scene and hugely influential to scores of artists across the world. McCarthy has dedicated his career to experimental practices, examining the shortfalls of conventional language and shining a light on the dark side of contemporary culture — specifically consumerism and mainstream media as they are experienced in America.

McCarthy’s 50 years of artmaking have seen him work in nearly every conceivable medium, from painting and sculpture, to performance, video, feature-length film and recently virtual reality. The medium of video at once preserves and informs McCarthy's performances and other creative endeavors, serving as a core part of his practice. For the exhibition at M WOODS, the artist has chosen to present a survey of video, which he has worked with since the beginning and consistently returned to over the course of his career. From his early black and white documentations of actions like Whipping a Wall and a Window with Paint (1974), to the seven-hour epic White Snow (2013), McCarthy’s own trajectory reflects the evolution of video art in production and address towards audiences. Showing publicly for the first time in China are 43 works by McCarthy and selected collaborators, made between 1970 and 2013.

Innocence is inseparable from narratives of its loss. The exhibition title suggests a state of mind and spirit of inquiry that run throughout McCarthy’s practice. M WOODS has worked closely with the artist and his studio team to design the exhibition. For its duration, the museum is flipped from beginning to end and accessed from the back entrance — an organizational restructuring that echoes McCarthy’s inversion of social norms. In considering the nature of certain content, the exhibition will be restricted to those over the age of 18. Identification is required. Admission is granted under visitors’ discretion.