Andres Serrano

Heaven and Hell

1984

Born 1950, New York City; lives and works in New York City. Since the mid 1980s, Andres Serrano has been one of the most famous active American photographers. Serrano studied sculpture and painting at the Brooklyn Museum and Art School from 1967-1969 and began creating photography in the early 1980s. His training in painting and sculpture, along with his strict Roman Catholic upbringing, would play a major role in shaping his work. Serrano’s photography often evokes both striking physicality and spirituality. He is well known for creating large scale images that incorporate bodily fluids and religious iconography. One of Serrano’s most famous and controversial images, Piss Christ (1987), depicted a plastic crucifix submerged in urine. Though not intended to shock, his work is nevertheless emotionally provocative. In spite of the controversy surrounding some of his images, Serrano’s original style has made him one of the most influential contemporary photographers. Serrano’s work is featured in the permanent collections of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Amsterdam; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, to name a few.