Paul McCarthy: Hammer Oranges Apple was published in 2003 by Revolver – Archiv für aktuelle Kunst and

documents a key body of work by Paul McCarthy from the early 1970s. The book focuses on The Three Boxes (1970–1975), a set of videotapes conceived as stacked containers and shown publicly for the first time in the context of the publication and its accompanying exhibition.

Combining photographic documentation with selected statements by the artist, the publication examines questions of objecthood, storage, and media inscription that recur throughout McCarthy’s practice. The box format functions both as a physical structure and as a conceptual framework, linking performance, video, and sculptural thinking. Rather than offering a retrospective overview, the book concentrates on a specific archival constellation, foregrounding process, repetition, and containment as operative principles.

Hammer Oranges Apple serves as both an exhibition record and a critical document, situating early video work within McCarthy’s broader investigation of material, bodily action, and the conditions of presentation and preservation.