Culture war arts veteran visits MU
Collaboration among several academic departments fulfilled art history alumnus Irina Hans' dream of bring Andres Serrano to campus.
Published Sept. 30, 2005
Andres Serrano doesn't want to piss you off. He just wants answers to his questions.
Serrano, a highly acclaimed contemporary artist, gave a public lecture about his work on Thursday in Ellis Auditorium. His arrival marked the ending of more than three years worth of efforts and the collaboration of six academic departments.
Serrano's lecture was the incarnation of a dream of art history alumnus Irina Hans who wrote her master's thesis about Serrano and had corresponded with him via e-mail. It was her idea to bring Serrano to campus. Hans was killed in Washington, D.C., in October 2002. Hannah Johnson, president of Arts Spectrum, an art history and archaeology organization, put together Thursday's lecture with Serrano in Hans' memory.
Two of Serrano's photographs, "Piss Discus" and "Red River #10," are a part of MU's collection and are on display in the modern section of the Museum of Art and Archaeology.
A New York born artist, Serrano gained most of his notoriety in 1989 when his print, "Piss Christ," received $15,000 through the National Endowment for the Arts.
The photograph features a plastic crucifix submerged in a plexiglass tank filled with the Serrano's urine. The debate became heated when outraged conservative politicians voiced their disdain, eventually leading to restrictions on NEA funding and a sociological war that would make art history.
"His work was at the center of the culture wars in the late 1980s and early 1990s," said Dr. Richard Callahan, an assistant professor of religious studies, one of the event's sponsors.
"The issues that were raised in the controversy over NEA funding for his work remain current and urgent as the nation continues to discuss the place of religious values in political policy," Callahan said.
Dr. Kristin Swain, an assistant professor with the department of art history and archaeology, was one of the lecture's key sponsors.
"One reason his photographs are so controversial and powerful is that they engage the viewer directly," Swain said. "The sheer beauty of his work attracts beholders, while the subject matter demands they confront thorny issues of death, poverty, racism and violence."
Serrano's presentation focused on his art, which serves as the visual representations of his curiosity.
"I wasn't trying to be provocative," Serrano said during his lecture. "I always rejected the notion of being a crusader."
The presentation spanned more than 20 years of work and covered the entire spectrum of taboo subjects, including all bodily fluids, a portrait series of the Ku Klux Klan, cocaine addicts and his collection known as the "History of Sex."
Much of Serrano's work surrounds the artist's relationship with religion. After the "Piss Christ" controversy, the artist said he felt empowered to move on to new subjects that took him everywhere from a morgue in New York to churches in Italy, Spain and France.
"Serrano's work has often engaged religious iconography and concepts in ways that challenge audiences to consider the power and meaning of symbols and substances in modern American society," Callahan said.
But Serrano said his intentions are not to shock but to answer curiosity with more questions.
"I get an idea, and I want to see what it looks like," Serrano said.