"Piss Christ" Creator, Serrano at Phoenix Art Museum Tonight

PHOENIX NEW TIMES
April 12, 2011

"Piss Christ"

ARIZONA - Andres Serrano, best known for his infamous 1989 work Piss Christ (consisting of a photograph depicting a plastic crucifix floating in a two-gallon jar of his own urine) is visiting PAM for a special lecture and discussion with world-renowned artist (and Valley native) Eric Fischl in the museum's Whiteman Hall on April 13. The artist's strict Catholic upbringing in New York City by his Honduran mother and Cuban father imbued his early work with religious overtones, particularly Piss Christ. Although the artist admits to a fascination with the profane and repulsive nature of bodily fluids (as well as taboo imagery in general), the work is more than just the blasphemous act of placing a religious icon in an utterly foul substance. It contains allusions toward Serrano's feelings about the commercialization of Christian iconography and his conflicted feelings about his own beliefs. Another work from that era is Heaven and Hell, a photograph depicting a smirking priest ignoring a bound and blood-soaked nude woman. In a 1991 interview with High Performance Magazine, the artist explained his belief that his work, while religious, isn't sacrilegious. "I am drawn to Christ but I have real problems with the Catholic Church. I don't go out of my way to be critical of the Church in my work, because I think that I make icons worthy of the Church." [link]