Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.

Paul Dreaming, Vertical, Horizontal

Paul McCarthy American

Not on view

McCarthy explores the potential of the surrogate figure—an inanimate object with human characteristics—as a means of visualizing subjective experience and confronting mortality. Cast from the artist’s standing body (as evidenced by the figure’s flat feet and straight back) in 2005 and intended as a prop for one of his films, the figure went unused until 2012, when McCarthy decided to partially clothe and recline it on a padded lawn chair. By contrasting the seeming vitality of a vertical (grounded) body with the ambiguity of a horizontal one, the scene becomes one imaginable in a backyard setting, where the figure may be sleeping or in an unconscious state.

Paul Dreaming, Vertical, Horizontal, Paul McCarthy (American, born 1945), Platinum silicone, clothing, plastic, foam, lawn chair

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.

Photo: Fredrik Nilsen

Paul Dreaming, Vertical, Horizontal, Paul McCarthy (American, born 1945), Platinum silicone, clothing, plastic, foam, lawn chair
Paul Dreaming, Vertical, Horizontal, Paul McCarthy (American, born 1945), Platinum silicone, clothing, plastic, foam, lawn chair

This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.