Andres Serrano

Andres Serrano is an American artist known for his largescale photographs imbued with religious symbolism Serrano is best known for his image Piss Christ 1987 a nowinfamous pictures of a plastic crucifix submerged in the artists urine Serranos art brings together spirituality with physicality in a way that has garnered the artist considerable controversy although it is not always intended to shock Thats what happens when you do work that is emotionally provocative it polarizes people on both sides of the fence the artist has said Born on August 15 1950 in New York NY Serrano is from a Honduran and AfroCuban background and was raised by a devout Roman Catholic family The tenets of Catholicisms taking the body and blood of Christ has played a major role in Serranos artwork Though he never received a formal art education he did study at the Brooklyn Museum School of Art during his teenage years Like Kiki Smith he often uses bodily fluidsblood milk semenin conjunction with sacred iconography In 1996 the band Metallica released their album Load which used Serranos work Semen and Blood III 1990 as the cover art The artists works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago the Malmö Konsthall in Sweden and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC among others from Serranos bio on Artnetcom