Andres Serrano (born 1950 America) is a celebrated photographer who has become well known for his dramatic and provocative images. Serrano has used bodily fluids in his work, notably his controversial work “Piss Christ”, a beautiful red-tinged photograph of a crucifix submerged in a glass container of what was claimed to be the artist’s own urine. Serrano has also employed traditional portraiture strategies to photograph members of the Klu Klux Klan (Klansmen, 1990) and homeless New Yorkers (Nomads, 1990). His Morgue series (1992), which is believed to have been photographed in Paris, studied the heads and bodies of corpses. His other series examine such subjects as Middle America, Catholic lay workers, guns, and human sexuality.

Serrano’s photographs are shaped by his training in painting and sculpture and informed by his strict Roman Catholic upbringing. References to Catholic iconography and doctrine run throughout his work. Carefully composed, suffused with light, and saturated with color, his large-scale photographs appear painterly, their subjects framed with an eye towards such classical sculptural qualities as form, mass, and balance.

Serrano’s work as a photographer tends toward relatively large prints of about 20 by 30 inches (51 by 76 cm), which are produced by conventional photographic techniques (as opposed to digital manipulation).

Presented in partnership with a/political, dedicated to the support and promotion of artists working within a socio-political framework; aiming to elucidate current social and political concerns.

Links 

www.andresserrano.org
http://www.a-political.org/artists/andres-serrano