Andres Serrano (born August 15, 1950) is an American photographer and artist. Serrano was born in New York City on August 15, 1950. He is from a half Honduran, half Afro-Cuban background, and was raised a strict Roman Catholic. He studied from 1967 to 1969 at the Brooklyn Museum and Art School, yet is considered to be a self-taught photographer. Serrano has said that he is a Christian.
HEAVEN AND HELL, c. 1984
By Andrés Serrano
27.5 X 40 in (69.85 X 101.6 cm)
Cibachrome
Edition Number: 9/10
"In Heaven and Hell, Andres Serrano challenges the benevolence of the Catholic Church while also taking on the sexualization of violence against women. The work was made in collaboration with political artist Leon Golub, who appears in the photograph wearing the red robes of a Cardinal, subtly smiling as he looks away from the blood-splattered nude who is bound and suspended next to him. Serrano said of the work, "I'm referring to the relationship the Church has with women, whether they are aware of women as human beings or just take them for granted and dismiss them." - Sotheby's Contemporary Art Auction Catalog - March 9th, 2011
HEAVEN AND HELL II, c. 1984
By Andrés Serrano
27.5 X 40 in (69.85 X 101.6 cm)
Cibachrome
HEAVEN AND HELL III, c. 1984
By Andrés Serrano
27.5 X 40 in (69.85 X 101.6 cm)
Cibachrome
Serrano's work has been exhibited in diverse locations around the world including the Episcopal Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City, World without end (2001), and a retrospective at the Barbican Arts Centre in London, Body and soul (2001)
BLACK JESUS, c. 1990
By Andrés Serrano
60 X 40 in (152.4 X 101.6 cm)
Medium: print
Signed
One from an edition of four
His exhibitions have often inspired angry reactions. On October 5, 2007, his group of photographs called "The History of Sex" were on display and several were vandalized at an art gallery in Lund, Sweden by people who were believed to be part of a neo-Nazi group. On April 16, 2011, after two weeks of protests and a campaign of hate mail and abusive phone calls to an art gallery displaying his work, orchestrated by groups of French Catholic fundamentalists, approximately a thousand people marched through the streets of Avignon, to protest outside the gallery. On April 17, 2011, two of his works, Piss Christ and The Church, were vandalized.
THE CHURCH (ST. SEVERIN II), c. 1991
By Andrés Serrano
59.65 X 49.02 in (151.5 X 124.5 cm)
Medium: Dye destruction print, DiasecSigned
One of 4 editioned copies
Serrano's work as a photographer tends toward relatively large prints of about 20 by 30 inches (51 by 76 cm), which are produced by conventional photographic techniques (as opposed to digital manipulation). He has shot a vast array of subject matter including portraits of Klansmen, morgue photos, and pictures of burn victims. He went into the New York City Subway with lights and photographic background paper to portray the bedraggled homeless, as well as producing some rather tender but sometimes decidedly kinky portraits of couples.
BLACK BABY JESUS, c. 1990
By Andrés Serrano
45 X 32.5 in (114.3 X 82.55 cm)
Medium: Cibachrome print, face-mounted to Plexiglas, in artist's stained wood frame
Signed
Edition Number: 5/10
Many of Serrano's pictures involve bodily fluids in some way—depicting, for example, blood (sometimes menstrual blood), semen, or human female milk. Within this series are a number of works in which objects are submerged in bodily fluids. Most famous of these is Piss Christ (1987), see below, a photograph of a plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist's own urine. This caused great controversy when first exhibited. The work was sold for $277,000 in 1999, which was far beyond the estimated $20,000 – $30,000. Serrano, alongside other artists such as Robert Mapplethorpe, became a figure whom Senator Jesse Helms, and Senator Alfonse D'Amato, as well as other cultural conservatives, attacked for producing offensive art while others, including The New York Times, defended him in the name of artistic freedom.
WHITE BABY JESUS, c. 1990
By Andrés Serrano
40 X 27.5 in (101.6 X 69.85 cm)
Medium: Cibachrome print
Edition Number: 1 from an edition of 10
The most famous and notorious of Serrano's work plays on the relationship between beautiful imagery and vulgar materials, his subject matter often drawing from the potentially controversial and, perhaps, the willfully provocative. Critical reception has been mixed over the years. In a 1989 New York Times review, critic Michael Brenson responded to Serrano's series of Cibachrome photographs of iconic objects submerged in bodily fluids: "You cannot consider the content of Mr. Serrano's work without considering his attitude toward photography. It is the photograph that breaks through convention, that makes the search possible and that enables the artist to sort out what he likes and does not like in religion and art. It is the photograph that becomes the vessel of transformation and revelation. The photograph then becomes an icon that, for Mr. Serrano, replaces the false icons in his work. The photograph is clean and purified, the reliquary or shrine in which he clearly believes that the word about the body can be stored and spread." Reviewing later work in 2001, Guardian art critic Adrian Searle was not impressed: he found that Serrano's photos were "far more about being lurid than anything else... In the end, the show is all surface, and looking for hidden depths does no good."
PISS CHRIST, c 1987
By Andrés Serrano
45 X 32.5 in (114.3 X 82.55 cm)
Medium: Cibachrome print, face-mounted to Plexiglas
Edition Number: 4/10
Serrano insists Piss Christ is not a blasphemous provocation; it is a serious work of Christian art, from a self-confessed sinner whose belief is anything but prissy. “What it symbolises is the way Christ died: the blood came out of him but so did the piss and the shit. Maybe if Piss Christ upsets you, it’s because it gives some sense of what the crucifixion actually was like.”
Piss Christ is a 1987 photograph depicting a small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist's urine. The piece was a winner of the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art's "Awards in the Visual Arts" competition, which was sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, a United States Government agency that offers support and funding for artistic projects, without controlling content. More
Andres Serrano
Anarchy (Celebrity), 2011
Cibachrome print, silicone
Edition 1/3
60 x 50 in. (152.4 x 127 cm.)
In 2008, Serrano's piece The Interpretation of Dreams (White Nigger) was selected to participate in The Renaissance Society's group exhibit, "Black Is, Black Ain't"
AMERICA (AYA BASEMAH, CONVERT TO ISLAM), c. 2002
By Andrés Serrano
45 X 37.75 in (114.3 X 95.88 cm)
Medium: cibachrome print
Signed
Edition Number: 1/7, edition of 7
There’s nothing arbitrary about comparing Serrano with Spanish and Italian Catholic artists of the baroque age. He loves baroque art so much that he has filled his New York home with it. “At least I know where my money’s gone,” he says. Among the treasures in his Hammer horror-style hall is a hyperrealistic 17th-century Spanish sculpture of the severed head of John the Baptist, with blood seeping from the neck. “I see myself as belonging to a tradition of religious art going back to Caravaggio and others,” he says. “Caravaggio’s works are so strong – using a prostitute as the Virgin Mary ...” More
THE OTHER CHRIST (THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS), c. 2001
By Andrés Serrano
45.08 X 37.6 in (114.5 X 95.5 cm)
Medium: Cibachrome print
Signed
Edition Number: 3/7
CRUCIFIX, c. 1983
By Andrés Serrano
39.38 X 59.5 in (100.03 X 151.13 cm)
Medium: Cibachrome print face mounted to Plexiglas
Signed
Edition Number: 2/4
MOSES (IMMERSIONS), c. 1950
By Andrés Serrano
65.55 X 56.89 in (166.5 X 144.5 cm)
Medium: Cibachrome print
GREY MOSES, c. 1990
By Andrés Serrano
Medium: cibachrome print
THE CHURCH (SOEUR JEANNE MYRIAM), c. 1991
By Andrés Serrano
65.12 X 54.62 in (165.4 X 138.73 cm)
Medium: Cibachrome print
Signed
Edition Number: 4/4
Andres Serrano
The Church (Soeur Yvette II), c. 1991
cibachrome, silicone
h: 60 x w: 49.5 in / h: 152.4 x w: 125.73 cm
Edition/Set of 4
Andres Serrano
The Church (Padre Giuseppe, Venice), c. 1991
cibachrome, silicone
h: 60 x w: 49.5 in / h: 152.4 x w: 125.73 cm
Edition/Set of 4
THE CHURCH (ST. EUSTACHE), c. 1991
By Andrés Serrano
59.5 X 48.87 in (151.13 X 124.13 cm)
Medium: Dye destruction print
Signed
Edition Number: 1/4
BLACK SUPPER I-V, c. 1991
By Andrés Serrano
45 X 32.75 in (114.3 X 83.18 cm)
Medium: cibachrome print
Creation Date: 1991
Signed
Edition Number: 7/10
BLACK SUPPER
By Andrés Serrano
MOTHER AND CHILD
By Andrés Serrano
Medium: C-Print
Signed
Edition Number: 27/50
Because of the intensity of his unresolved feelings about the Church, Serrano has surrounded himself with the symbols of Catholicism, choosing to mix the sacred and the secular in such a way that one cannot easily tell if he is profaning the sacred or raising the parochial to a divine level. His easy familiarity with these vestments and ecclesiastical objects borders on profanity, and yet the artist's ardor is evident. In this image, the artist harkens back to his childhood home that contained only a statue of the Madonna and a picture of Christ with a sacred heart. More
CRUCIFIXION II, c. 1987
By Andrés Serrano
60 X 40.5 in (152.4 X 102.87 cm)
Medium: Cibachrome print
Signed
Edition Number: in an edition of 4
ECCE HOMO, c. 1988
By Andrés Serrano
60 X 40 in (152.4 X 101.6 cm)
Medium: cibachrome print
Signed
Edition Number: 4/4
WHITE CHRIST, 1989
By Andrés Serrano
40 X 30 in (101.6 X 76.2 cm)
Medium: Cibachrome print
Edition Number: numbered 1/10
RED POPE (PART I, PART II, PART III), c. 1990
By Andrés Serrano
40 X 27.62 in (101.6 X 70.15 cm)
Medium: triptych--Cibachrome print
Signed
Edition Number: 6/10
WHITE POPE FROM IMMERSIONS, c. 1990
By Andrés Serrano
59.5 X 39.5 in (151.13 X 100.33 cm)
Medium: Dye destruction print
Signed
Edition Number: 3 from an edition of 4
RED POPE (PART III), c. 1990
By Andrés Serrano
Medium: cibachrome print
ST. MICHAEL'S BLOOD
By Andrés Serrano
89.5 X 64.87 in (227.33 X 164.77 cm)
Medium: cibachrome print
Signed
PISS LIGHT, c. 1987
By Andrés Serrano
40 X 30 in (101.6 X 76.2 cm)
Medium: Cibachrome print
Signed
Edition Number: 1/10
BUDAPEST (YOUNG HASID), c. 1994
By Andrés Serrano
39.5 X 32 in (100.33 X 81.28 cm)
Medium: Cibrachrome print
Signed
Edition Number: 6/7
BLACK MARY, c. 1990
By Andrés Serrano
40 X 30 in (101.6 X 76.2 cm)
Medium: Cibachrome print
Edition Number: numbered 7/10
MADONNA OF THE ROCK FROM IMMERSION SERIES, c. 1987
By Andrés Serrano
59.5 X 39.5 in (151.13 X 100.33 cm)
Medium: Dye destruction print
Signed
Edition Number: 4 from an edition of 4
MADONNA AND CHILD
By Andrés Serrano
Dimensions: 152.4 by 101.6 cm.
Medium: cibachrome print
MADONNA + CHILD II, c. 1989
By Andrés Serrano
Medium: cibachrome print
(Unknown) MADONNA + CHILD
By Andrés Serrano
PIETA II, c. 1990
By Andrés Serrano
40.25 X 59.87 in (102.24 X 152.07 cm)
Medium: Cibachrome
Edition Number: From a total edition of 4
Serrano’s photographs are shaped by his training in painting and sculpture and informed by his strict Roman Catholic upbringing. References to Catholic iconography and doctrine run throughout his work. Carefully composed, suffused with light, and saturated with color, his photographs appear painterly, their subjects framed with an eye towards such classical sculptural qualities as form, mass, and balance. “I call myself an artist with a camera,” Serrano explains, “because I studied painting and sculpture. More
ANDRES SERRANO
Pieta, c. 2012
C-Print
Edition Size: 50
29.8 x 23.4 cm (11.7 x 9.2 in)
Drawn to the aesthetics of Renaissance art, in Pieta Serrano refers to Michelangelo's sculpture as his subject. The figure in the center is not given light, only the background is illuminated, thus there is only the silhouette of what is meant to be the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion. This print comes together with a Collector's Edition. More
Andres Serrano
PANISH PIETA, c. 2011
Cibachrome, silicone,
60 x 49 1/2 inch, (152,4 x 125,73 cm)
ed. 3 + 2 AP
PIETÀ
By Andrés Serrano
Dimensions: 27.62 X 40.5 in (70.15 X 102.87 cm)
In Pieta, Julie Ault holds a five-dollar fish, purchased in Chinatown, that
transforms her into an absurd Virgin embracing a literalized symbol of Christ, who was
sometimes represented by the rebus JCHTHUS, Although Serrano's staged scene undermines the seriousness of the icon, the artificiality and irony of his tableau does not
completely eradicate its evocative power. More
SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST, 1998
By Andrés Serrano
23.75 X 19.62 in (60.32 X 49.83 cm)
Dye destruction transparencey, flush-mounted to acrylic, in aluminum lightbox
Signed
Edition Number: 6 from an edition of 10
CALVARY, c. 1985
By Andrés Serrano
30 h x 40 w inches
Medium: c-print
THE CHURCH (MONSEIGNEUR JACQUES BISHOP OF CHARTRES), c. 1991
By Andrés Serrano
39.25 X 32 in (99.7 X 81.28 cm)
Medium: Dye destruction print
Signed
Edition Number: 3 from an edition of 10
Andres Serrano
LA CHINOISE MADONNA, c. 2011
Cibachrome, silicone
60 x 49 1/2 inch, (152,4 x 125,73 cm)
ed. 3 + 2 AP
Andres Serrano
THE YOUNG MASTER, c. 2011
Cibachrome, silicone
60 x 49 1/2 inch, (152,4 x 125,73 cm)
ed. 3 + 2 AP
Andres Serrano
MARY AND JESUS, c. 2011
Cibachrome, silicone
60 x 49 1/2 inch, (152,4 x 125,73 cm)
ed. 3 + 2 AP
Andres Serrano
BLOOD MADONNA, c. 2011
Cibachrome, silicone, plexiglass, wood frame
60 x 49 1/2 inch, (152,4 x 125,73 cm)
ed. 3 + 2 AP
Andres Serrano
Our Lady of the Thorns
Andres Serrano
Study for Our Lady of the Thorns 1
Andres Serrano
The Scream (Holy Works), c. 2011
cibachrome, silicone
Andres Serrano
Magdalena (Holy Works), c. 2011
cibachrome, silicone
Andres Serrano
St. George (Holy Works), c. 2011
cibachrome, silicone
Andres Serrano
ST. ANTHONY BLOOD, c. 2011
Cibachrome, silicone,
60 x 49 1/2 inch, (152,4 x 125,73 cm)
ed. 3 + 2 AP
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these are crazy
ReplyDeleteSome imagination!
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