Santa
May 31, 2018
Ekebergparken is pleased to announce Paul McCarthy’s Santa as the newest addition to our permanent sculpture collection.
The sculpture was unveiled on May 31 and is located in the roundabout by the entrance to Ekebergparken.
The internationally renowned artist Paul McCarthy is one of the most influential contemporary artists of his generation. His performances, videos, sculptures and installations are known for their critique of mainstream culture, the consumer society, ridicule of authorities and subversion of beloved icons such as Pinocchio, Snow White, George W. Bush and Michael Jackson. Through humorous and often disturbing transpositions, McCarthy blurs the line between high and low culture while presenting to us the darker side of the American dream.
The over 6-metre-tall, red bronze sculpture Santa portrays the iconic Christmas character, Santa Claus. In line with McCarthy’s transposition of popular icons, the once innocent and family friendly Santa Claus is with Santa featured holding what resembles either a tree, a sex toy or a Constantin Brâncuși sculpture in his hand. Santa has been an essential part of McCarthy’s assembly of characters for more than 40 years and has evolved through various media. Amongst several variations of the Santa sculpture, a large version was commissioned for Rotterdam in the Netherlands in 2001. Due to the controversy it caused, it did not receive a permanent location before 2008. Santa in Ekebergparken is a further development of the figure and has finally received its red colour, which was McCarthy’s original vision for the sculpture.
Statement from Ina Johannesen, Director of Ekebergparken:
Ekebergparken is proud to have realised this project together with Paul McCarthy. Moreover, we are honoured to include this monumental and thought-provoking sculpture in our permanent collection.
Paul McCarthy’s work has been exhibited worldwide and has had a number of solo exhibitions, most recently including at Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles, US (2017); Deitch Projects, New York, US (2017); Fundació Gaspar, Barcelona, Spain (2017); Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, Italy (2017); Xavier Hufkens, Brussels, Belgium (2016); Lokremise, St. Gallen, Switzerland (2016); Volksbühne, Berlin, Germany (2015); The Renaissance Society, Chicago, US (2015); Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, Switzerland (2015); Monnaie de Paris, Paris, France (2014); and Peder Lund, Oslo, Norway (2012). Amongst numerous group exhibitions some of the most recent are Travelers: Stepping into the Unknown, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan (2018); Plato in L.A.: Contemporary Artists’ Visions, The Getty Villa, Los Angeles, US (2018); ISelf Collection: The Upset Bucket, Whitechapel, London, England (2017); Hyperrealist Sculpture 1973-2016, ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark (2017); and Los Angeles: a fiction, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway (2016).
About Ekebergparken
Founded in 2011 and officially opened in 2013, Ekebergparken is a 63-acre public sculpture- and national heritage park located on the hillside of Ekeberg in Oslo, Norway. The public park is a result of a public-private collaboration between C. Ludens Ringnes Foundation and Oslo Municipality. The initiative came from real estate mogul and philanthropist Christian Ringnes, is financed by the C. Ludens Ringnes Foundation, and directed by Ina Johannesen.
The park’s permanent art collection, which will reach 40 sculptures by the end of 2018, has been carefully selected by an Art Committee. In addition to its extensive international art collection, Ekebergparken aims to be an arena for collaborative, temporary art projects. In 2015 and 2016 the contemporary music festival Ultima arranged light and musical events in the park. Several musical compositions have been performed both inside James Turrell’s Ganzfeld/Skyspace and in Dan Graham’s Ekeberg Pavilion. Ekebergparken has also had the pleasure of hosting the performance festival Soppen, which was a collaboration with Oslo Pilot and the artist duo Trollkrem.
