Serrano-Controversial

Serrano produced bodies of work that were highly controversial when they were exhibited because he depicts the Passion of Christ with the use of his own urine. This was highly controversial because many viewers took offense to this display because they felt Serrano was insulting the name of Christ and the values of Christianity. They take offense in the use of urine being used with the Passion of Christ because it is disrespecting the story of Christ and all who respect it. However, others thought that this display was “one of the most influential works of art of the past 30 years. Many people found this photograph to be a modern work of religious art that possesses a rhetorical nature and a richly traditional dimension.” These people did not take offense because they felt that the use of urine was needed for displaying the Passion of Christ due to the fact that “Christ has always been associated with bodily fluids,” such as blood. Although urine is not blood, it is related to the death of Christ in regard to his gruesome fleshy death. Some believed this take on the Passion of Christ, “Piss Christ”, symbolized the true suffering of Christ which it was meant to do. The use of urine allows for the crucifix to evoke the “intense baroque image of the passion,” by the way in which “Christ shines through the yellow urine.” The glowing of the Crucifix and body of Christ through the dark orange opaque layer represents the power that Christ held at the moment of this death and beyond. There will always be people who take this piece of work as an insult to their religion, but there will also be the people who find inspiration and passion in these uncanny depictions of Christ. 

Jones, Jonathan. Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ is the original shock art. The Guardian, 18 April. 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/apr/18/andres-serrano-piss-christ-shock.