Beginning 2 June, Hauser & Wirth will present an exhibition by celebrated American artist Paul McCarthy that confronts the complex mechanisms of power, politics, desire, and history. The exhibition focuses on the Los Angeles debut of new and recent large-scale ‘A&E’ drawings, an offshoot of McCarthy’s ongoing video series with German actor Lilith Stangenberg. An initialism for Adolf & Eva, Adam & Eve, and Arts & Entertainment, ‘A&E’ is a multi-disciplinary project that evolved out of the artist’s film project ‘NV Night Vater’ (2019 – ). Originally drawing from Liliana Cavani’s sadomasochistic erotic drama ‘The Night Porter’ (1974), the project continues McCarthy’s exploration of the origins of fascism, Hollywood, the contemporary art world, and the current political climate. 

These drawings, created by McCarthy during improvised performances between himself and Stangenberg while in character as forms of Adolf and Eva, serve as documentation of both McCarthy’s incisive critical lens and his career-spanning omnivorous practice including performance, video, and drawing. The ‘A&E’ drawings will be accompanied by a video work from the drawing sessions along with the platform sculpture the drawing performances were enacted upon. 

This summer, McCarthy will stage a series of performances with Stangenberg. The performances are curated by Henning Nass and include ‘A&E / ADOLF & EVA / ADAM & EVE / HAMBURG’ at Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, Germany from 24 – 29 August 2022 and ‘NV / NIGHT VATER / VIENNA’ Volkstheater Wien in Vienna, Austria from 3 – 7 September 2022. A solo exhibition of McCarthy’s work, ‘Dead End Hole,’ was recently on view at KODE Museum in Bergen, Norway. In 2019 his works on paper were the subject of a major survey entitled ‘Head Space: Drawings 1963 – 2019’ at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.