Paul McCarthy's art has always been provocative. In Pirate and Western, two bodies of work produced over the past few years, his artistic language is also mercilessly direct, without subscribing to romanticizing conventions. His protagonists often spring from common clichés and myths: cowboys and pirates are stock characters of American civilization and, at the same time, classic subjects of Hollywood cinema. However, it is the dark, previously hidden side of his protagonists that McCarthy (*1945 in Salt Lake City) portrays in an ironic way, exaggerated to the point of grotesquerie. Yet it appears that McCarthy does not only aim for provocation and shock, but also for catharsis, which ultimately reveals the artist's moral intention. This book is the first to show and describe McCarthy's installations, supplemented by videos, drawings, and sculptures from the early sixties to the present. They present the genesis of these two important groups of works, allowing us to discover what part they play in the oeuvre of this American artist. Exhibition schedule: Haus der Kunst, Munich, June 12-August 28, 2005 · Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, October 22, 2005-January 1, 2006