You either love or hate Andres Serrano (1950). There is no way in between, no grey area with him. American with Afro-Cuban origins, this groundbreaking artist creates artworks often made of bodily fluids. 

In 1987 he presented the photo Piss Christ, a plastic cross immersed in a glass filled with Serrano's urine. The work, awarded in 1989 with the Awards in the Visual Arts endowed by Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art and sponsored by National Endowment for the Arts, was damaged by Catholics in 2011 during his exhibit in Avignone, France.

Morgue is a photographic project of 1992 in which he developed, through large color photographs taken in morgues, a study on dead human bodies: portraits, studies of hands, feet, heads. 

 St. Anthony's blood, andres Serrano

Serrano recounts religion, xenophobia, fanaticism, sickness and death. He cares about humanity. Many people see his works as a mere provocation, but it must be said that Serrano is a religious man, and his aim is to present, to discuss and to stress ethical themes. His art is so graphic because he wants to force people to look where they wouldn't, to face debates long left unresolved because they are uncomfortable and is always playing with the sacred and the secular. He even tries - often succeeding - in conveying a message of beauty to the viewer. Cleary, it's not a classical concept of beauty, but the lights, the poses and the frames are all studied so that the eye is somehow lured into lingering on the image a bit more than it really wants. 

Crucifixtion, Andres Serrano

Blood Madonna, andres serrano

This is because of his ability to communicate through the titles of his works, through the images. You might not like him, but you don't forget him (and if you have seen the Morgue project you are probably not going to forgive him either). 

Andres Serrano Portrait

And if you don't know him yet, here is a chance to get closer to his art: his series "Holy Works" will be on display at Art Gallery Pack in Milan (Foro Buonaparte, 60) until November 19th.  Far from the iconoclastic intentions typical of many of his past series, the artist appears now oriented on an interpretation of fifteenth-century Italian painting, but never leaving aside provocation. 

Written by Elisa della Barba