9 of Paul McCarthy's Most Depraved, Disturbing, and Unforgettable Artworks

Kevin Beasley, a multifaceted contemporary artist known for his innovative blend of sculpture, sound, and performance, presents his largest and most ambitious installation yet at Storm King Art Center in New York’s Hudson Valley. Titled PROSCENIUM | Rebirth/Growth: The Watch / Harvest / Dormancy: On Reflection, the expansive work spans 100 feet and explores the cycles of the seasons through four triptychs made of vintage clothing and natural elements encased in resin. Drawing inspiration from World War II acoustic mirrors, Beasley’s curved installation engages with sound and landscape, amplifying environmental noises and inviting viewers into a sensory dialogue between history, identity, and the land. Complementing the show, a limited edition series of four intricate prints was created using tactile materials and traditional screen printing techniques, capturing the essence of his evolving practice and communal approach to art-making.

Nicole Wittenberg, known for her evocative reinvention of realism, finds profound inspiration in the rural landscapes of Maine, where her studio—a repurposed former government factory—serves as a sanctuary away from the urban rhythm of New York. Her new silkscreen edition, *Goldenrod and Queen Anne’s Lace, 2025*, captures the vibrant, fleeting beauty of wildflowers through layered strokes and gestural mark-making that evoke the immediacy and sensuality of being immersed in nature. Drawing en plein air, Wittenberg embraces chance and movement, translating the dynamic qualities of light, wind, and growth into a vivid, almost abstracted floral composition that speaks to her desire to stop thinking and truly see. The edition, accompanied by a signed monograph, coincides with three summer exhibitions and underscores her ongoing exploration of emotional expression and the spontaneous sensations found in the natural world, firmly rooting her practice in the tension between observation, memory, and feeling.

William Monk’s art captivates with its striking contrasts and poetic gestures, inviting viewers into a liminal space between vision and feeling, memory and dream. His improvisational process often revisits a single image through multiple iterations, turning painting into a contemplative ritual akin to a mantra. His latest limited edition lithograph, Mount Atom, 2025, exemplifies this approach, presenting a surreal, glowing coral form above a textured mound, crafted through intricate layers that evoke timelessness and otherworldliness. With a career marked by prestigious exhibitions worldwide and recognition for his psychologically charged works, Monk shares insights into his creative trance-like process, the significance of visual scale and placement, and the intimate dialogue between paintings within his studio and exhibitions. Mount Atom, 2025, paired with Phaidon’s first comprehensive monograph on Monk, offers a rare, intimate encounter with his evolving oeuvre.

Jim Hodges captivates with his ability to infuse everyday objects with profound emotion and narrative, blending drawing and sculpture through humble materials transformed to evoke memory and imagination. His new edition, *with you, 2024*, created for the TWO x TWO for AIDS Art Gala, features two elegant vessels—one basalt stone, one cast glass—set on a walnut pedestal, designed to be completed and continually reborn through the ritual of adding fresh flowers. This work reflects themes of impermanence, renewal, and connection, inviting owners to participate actively in its life and meaning. Hodges’s use of contrasting natural and crafted materials speaks to timeless artistic traditions while celebrating collaboration and care. Known for deeply contemplative, beautiful works exhibited worldwide, Hodges sees art as an invitation to slow down, reflect, and experience the transformative power of relationships and generosity.

Patricia Cronin’s art boldly intertwines classical techniques with urgent contemporary issues, exploring themes of feminism, LGBTQ+ rights, and social justice through oil painting, sculpture, and printmaking. Renowned for her groundbreaking work like the groundbreaking "Memorial To A Marriage," a marble sculpture advocating marriage equality, Cronin channels her deep research and conceptual rigor into projects such as her recent series inspired by 19th-century sculptor Harriet Hosmer. By creating a unique catalogue raisonné combining hand-painted images and historical scholarship, Cronin not only revives Hosmer’s legacy but also critiques the underrepresentation of women artists. With a fearless commitment to activism, Cronin’s work challenges the status quo, inspiring both audiences and students to envision a world where art carries the power to confront injustice and reshape cultural narratives.

Cig Harvey’s latest limited edition print, *Wisteria, 2025*, captures a dreamlike moment where her friend Emily is enveloped by lush purple wisteria, blurring the lines between human and nature. Rooted in Harvey’s lifelong obsession with color and sensation, the image embodies her belief that photography should speak to the gut before the intellect, using beauty to draw viewers into a visceral experience of living in the body. Created during a serendipitous detour through a Maine town, the photograph celebrates the wild, untamed beauty of everyday life and the fleeting nature of light and time. Paired with Harvey’s new book *Emerald Drifters*, the edition invites audiences to embrace color’s mysterious power and the magic found in the world just beyond routine.

British artist Michaela Yearwood-Dan, renowned for her richly layered semi-abstract paintings that blend millennial pinks, lush vegetation, poetic texts, and shimmering embellishments, has released a new edition titled *Dream a little dream, 2025*. Comprising 50 editions—40 archival pigment prints enhanced with silkscreen varnishes and glass flocking, plus 10 uniquely hand-finished pieces with acrylic paint, oil pastel, ink, and glitter—the work invites viewers into a deeply personal and intimate journey, underscored by the inscription, “You are in every single dream.” Yearwood-Dan’s practice fluidly explores identity and emotional intimacy, weaving language, music, and layered materials to create multifaceted narratives rooted in her British Caribbean heritage. Committed to charitable causes, proceeds from this edition support New Contemporaries, an organization empowering emerging artists. Her work, which recently set auction records, continues to evolve with a confident, intuitive approach that embraces complexity and healing through creative expression.

British-born, US-based artist Cig Harvey begins 2025 by unveiling her deeply personal new book, Emerald Drifters, a captivating collection that blends 97 photographs, 30 vignettes, and nine watercolor illustrations alongside an essay by poet Ocean Vuong. The 224-page volume explores intimate recollections and everyday moments through a vibrant lens, capturing the delicate balance between nature and human presence. Following its March publication, Emerald Drifters embarks on an international gallery tour, starting in Atlanta, then Maine, and finally Zurich, showcasing Harvey’s evocative images and text. With a career spanning decades and work held in prestigious collections, Harvey’s intuitive and heartfelt approach invites viewers to experience the rare beauty found in the mundane, making this a celebrated artistic milestone.

Pakistani American artist Shahzia Sikander’s new lithograph, Her-Vimana, 2025, draws inspiration from the mythological flying palaces of Hindu and Jain texts to explore themes of transformation, resilience, and feminine strength. Created with vibrant hues and intricate detail, this limited edition print coincides with Sikander’s solo exhibitions at the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art, following her major survey at La Biennale di Venezia. Renowned for pioneering the neo-miniature movement, Sikander blends traditional South Asian miniature painting with contemporary media to challenge Eurocentric art histories and highlight gender, colonialism, and migration through a feminist lens. Her multi-layered storytelling weaves together myth, spirituality, and social commentary, reflecting an enduring commitment to amplifying women’s narratives and reimagining cultural heritage in dynamic, boundary-crossing forms.

Michaela Yearwood-Dan, the celebrated 30-year-old Black British artist, is stepping into 2025 with momentum, having joined the prestigious Hauser & Wirth gallery while continuing her partnership with Marianne Boesky in the US. Known for her lush, semi-abstract paintings that blend millennial pinks with textures like gold leaf, acrylic nails, and Swarovski crystals, Yearwood-Dan also explores ceramics and installations. After a creative residency in the English countryside, she has embraced a fresh artistic reset, infusing her work with references to music by artists such as Charli XCX and Tyler, the Creator. Anticipation builds for her upcoming solo show in London, while her vibrant pieces are featured in major collections across the US, and she remains a vital part of important group exhibitions highlighting Black and non-binary artists. With a style that invites personal interpretation and introspection, Yearwood-Dan’s work encourages viewers to engage deeply, making her one of the most exciting talents to watch this year.

Pakistani-born, New York-based artist Shahzia Sikander challenges traditional narratives through her vibrant, multifaceted work that disrupts conventions of race, gender, and power. Her major retrospective, *Collective Behavior*, first showcased at the Venice Biennale, spans sculptures, installations, animations, and contemporary reinterpretations of Indo-Persian miniature painting, and will continue its journey with exhibitions in Ohio in 2025. Known for her bold civic statements, including the notorious bronze sculpture *Witness*, which she chose to leave damaged as a symbol of societal division, Sikander invites viewers into a space of reflection and multifarious meaning. Acclaimed globally and featured in prestigious collections, her deeply considered artistry bridges cultural histories with contemporary issues, while a new monograph delves into the rich complexity of her practice.

In his latest Black Dada series exhibited at Pace New York, Adam Pendleton expands his artistic language through vibrant purples, reds, and metallic hues, emphasizing the interplay between process and form. This exploration continues in his Untitled (Blue Amphora), a hand-painted ceramic piece created for Artspace and Avant Arte to support charity: water. Layered with spray paint, stenciled geometries, and expressive brushstrokes, Pendleton’s work captures the dynamic tension between order and chaos, reflecting our complex sensory experience of the world. Rooted in his long-standing “Black Dada” philosophy, which interrogates Blackness through abstraction and avant-garde concepts, Pendleton moves fluidly from canvas to clay, translating his gestural marks into three-dimensional form. The amphora stands as a poetic extension of his practice, embodying transformation and the ongoing dialogue between intention and happenstance.