Artist Paul McCarthy will move operations to Eastside building

Acclaimed and sometimes controversial Los Angeles artist Paul McCarthy and his son Damon will move their base to a new location on the Eastside following the purchase of a 1970s-era industrial building.

Damon McCarthy bought the 150,000-square-foot building at 4540 Worth St. from Trammell Crow Co. for nearly $9 million, he said.

“I make big, crazy art pieces for famous artists, especially my dad,” McCarthy said. His 67-year-old father is known for his provocative performance art and large-scale sculpture that often skewers the excesses of American culture.

Paul and Damon McCarthy’s work “Rebel Dabble Babble,” presented in May downtown, covered two floors and spilled into the parking lot of a downtown gallery. It included original videos and eight rooms based on the 1955 movie “Rebel Without a Cause.”

Paul McCarthy Studios will move in next year, said Damon, who employs about 60 workers. “This will be my hub.”

The Eastside neighborhoods of Lincoln Heights and El Sereno are in transition from being exclusively industrial to more artistic, said real estate broker Jimmy Chai of Cushman & Wakefield, who represented McCarthy in the deal.

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