Upon first glance, these two pictures appear to be primary-colored monochromes: at their five-foot-wide scale, they are not unlike the modernist paintings found elsewhere in the Museum. Only after closer inspection—and a peek at the works’ titles, Blood and Piss—might we speculate that these luminous pictures are actually photographs of bodily fluids. Sometimes representation and abstraction can “coexist in the same image,” as Serrano has said. “As far as I’m concerned, I don’t have to choose.” Serrano’s work drew controversy during the 1980s “culture wars,” provoking debate regarding obscenity, censorship, and the role of government funding in the arts. Informed by his Catholic upbringing, and combining his interests in the history of painting with the slickness of high-production photography, Serrano’s lurid images both repel and seduce the viewer.
Inbox: Andres Serrano from The Abramson Collection, 2016.
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