When I was thinking about what to do my presentation on, I decided to do it on something controversial. I typed in “controversial Jesus artwork” into Google and “Piss Christ” by Andres Serrano was the number one result from the search. “Piss Christ” is an image of a plastic crucifix with Jesus on it and the whole thing is submerged in a bottle of the artist’s urine. When I first saw this image, I wasn’t offended or shocked. I never expected to see anything like this, but it didn’t have much a shock factor in my opinion. Art can take on many forms, this being one of them. I can see why it would offend some people. It does defame Jesus in my opinion though.
This work was produced in 1987. When first looking at the picture I saw Jesus on the cross with a lot of yellow throughout the whole picture. It seemed a little different because there were a lot of scratches on it. I didn’t understand why the picture would look like this. Then, I read the description and realized that this was a figure in a bottle full of urine. I didn’t really think of this as art, when first viewing it. Then, I saw that it won an award from the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art.
This piece was first seen as controversial in 1989 after winning this award. New York Senator Alfonse D’Amato began receiving letters and phone calls from citizens about the painting. The citizens were shocked and angry at the sight of this painting. This is partly because the artist received $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts. The citizens could not believe that their tax dollars were being used for this sort of thing. The Senator himself could not believe that the money from taxes was being used for this. This caused him to take this problem in front of the Senate. He then wrote a letter to the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. In the letter he talked about how appalled he and the citizens were because of the artist receiving the money for that piece of art. He also said that he wants the Chairman to make sure that future winners are thought over more carefully.
D’Amato wasn’t the only Senator to go before the presiding officer about this artwork. North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms had a problem with it as well. He as well believed that “Piss Christ” was a blasphemous piece of work. He went as far as to call the artist a jerk and said that he hopes that he never has to meet the artist. Helms couldn’t believe that something so offensive would honored by receiving an award and money. He even called the National Endowment for the Arts flawed because of their choices.
In 1997, while on display in Australia, “Piss Christ” was vandalized by two youths. During this vandalism, a couple of staff members were injured. This was the second time that it happened to this photograph in Australia. A couple of weeks before a man actually tried to remove the painting. He was arrested and given a one month suspended sentence. These vandalisms took place in the National Gallery of Victoria. The administrators decided to close down the gallery because of unsafe conditions for visitors because of these vandalisms. Archbishop Dr. George Pell applied for an injunction to prevent “Piss Christ” from being exhibited because he believed it was a blasphemous piece of art. Justice Harper of the Supreme Court in Victoria, Australia denied the injunction.
Everyone didn’t find “Piss Christ” offensive. Surprisingly, Catholic nun and art critic Wendy Beckett didn’t find it offensive at all. She believes it shows what people are doing to Christ today.
Serrano has made some comments on “Piss Christ.” He believes that the best place for this piece of art is in the church. Serrano said that he held an exhibit in a church once and everything went smoothly. He even said that the Vatican would be smart to display it one day. Serrano said he ignored all of the stuff going on in the Senate because it was his way of not letting them change his artistic direction. This was all said in an interview, in which he was talking about why he was taking pictures of Ku Klux Klan members. This is a little controversial since Serrano is a Hispanic man. In this interview he also said that he believes that his work is religious, not sacrilegious.
Andres Serrano was born in 1950 in New York City. He attended the Brooklyn Museum of Art School. At one point in his life he became a drug addict, which put his artwork on hold for several years. He was most influenced by European art movements of surrealism and Dada.
“Piss Christ” wasn’t a change from his usual work. That is what makes me think he didn’t want it to cause such a problem. Most of his art involves bodily fluids from humans and animals. His “Madonna and child II” features Mary and Jesus submerged in urine as well. His latest work revolves around feces from himself and other animals. Also, Metallica’s “Load” and “ReLoad” albums feature his artwork as their covers.
References:
http://www.csulb.edu/~jvancamp/361_r7.html
http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2002/09/shooting_the_kl.php
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_n7_v86/ai_21113230/pg_2/
http://www.artslaw.com.au/publications/Articles/97Blasphemy.asp
http://rogallery.com/Serrano_Andres/Andres_Serrano-Biography.html
http://cruciality.wordpress.com/2009/06/25/rethinking-serranos-piss-christ/
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