Paul McCarthy was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. He earned a BFA in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute, and an MFA in multimedia, film and art from USC. McCarthy first established a multi-faceted artistic practice, which sought to break the limitations of painting by using unorthodox materials such as bodily fluids and food. For 18 years, he taught performance, video, installation, and art history at UCLA, where he influenced future generations of west coast artists and he has exhibited extensively worldwide.