Blockhead and Daddies Bighead 2003

Blockhead and Daddies Bighead were an installation by Paul McCarthy at the Tate Modern's North Landscape in London. Both extremely large scale inflatable structures, they are the largest outdoor structures at Tate Modern. Blockhead, above on the left, is loosely based on the Disney character of Pinocchio, but a much more mutated version of the character, with a large block head and Pinocchio nose protruding from it, atop a large body sitting on a stack of books. The base of the sculpture is hollow, creating a hallway with a vending machine inside where the public can purchase candy, specifically made for the exhibition. McCarthy described the use of a black surface as creating a black object, which becomes a hole in the landscape. The second of the pair, Daddies Bighead, stands at over 50 feet tall. The body is a replica of a ketchup bottle with a giant head sitting atop of it. The head supposedly represents 'the head of the patriarchal tower, a penis tower bottle' (McCarthy).

Much of McCarthy's works focus largely on Hollywood and Disney. He forces the viewer to take the humor and the fantasy along with the perversion and horror that these things create. He often uses such mediums like ketchup, chocolate sauce, and mayonnaise to replicate bodily fluids that cover his artworks. So much of his work uses ketchup as a cover for blood that he has mistakenly been said the have the influence of Viennese Actionism: “The use of ketchup and masks grew out of my work and not out of being conscious of their work. I was pretty aware that certain artists were doing stuff like that. I think I found out about the Viennese in the early 1970s. Vienna is not Los Angeles. My work came out of kids’ television in Los Angeles. I didn’t go through Catholicism and World War II as a teenager, I didn’t live in a European environment. People make references to Viennese art without really questioning the fact that there is a big difference between ketchup and blood. I never thought of my work as shamanistic. My work is more about being a clown than a shaman."

Blockhead and Daddies Bighead remind me slightly of the works of Claes Oldenburg. Oldenburg also turned regular objects into huge spectacles as in his Floor Cake piece from 1962 or Soft Light Switches from 1963-69. It is interesting to me that someone can create what is essentially a big balloon and place it outside and call it art. I have always thought of art as paintings and photographs, even sculptures. Although, in some way these two works of art can actually be called sculptures.


Tate Modern Past Exhibitions Paul McCarthy." Tate: British and international modern and contemporary art. Web. 15 Nov. 2009. http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/paulmccarthy/.

Paul McCarthy at the S.M.A.K. - we make money not art." We make money not art. Web. 15 Nov. 2009. http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2007/12/last-week-i-vis-2.php.