Andres Serrano Essay

1502 Words7 Pages
One aspect that enforced my decision to look at an artist, the likes of ‘Andres Serrano’ was that of controversy and the term ‘abject’. I felt that his work relates to that of earlier work of my own, and work I would look in to again, just not at present, as I feel that this first year at university, for me is about experiment. The term abject, to me simply means to shock the viewer, however there are numerous examples of it. Often its is used to describe groups, the likes of homosexuals, race, handicapped, convicts and poor people. This term originates in the works of Julia Kristeva. ‘Our reaction (horror, vomit) to a threatened breakdown in meaning caused by the loss of the distinction between subject and object or between self and other.’ Julia Kristeva The idea of using seaman, hair and excrement/urine within our artwork is set upon as abject, and out of order. This is due to the fact that we recognise them as being part of ourselves at one point in time. In theory the abject covers all the bodily functions, or features of the body, that are deemed impure or unsuitable for public display or discussion. Which is a main feature behind the ‘Power of Horror’, an essay on abjection by Kristeva. Kristeva herself commented 'refuse and corpses show me what I permanently thrust aside in order to live'.  When I have looked at the abject in the past I have always been fascinated with the artwork that causes the most controversy, and I felt that from the knowledge that I have learnt from only a few years practise, that Andres Serrano’s piece ‘ Piss Christ’ is up there with the most controversial. I will be looking at that piece in more detail through out the essay. Andres Serrano, born in 1950 in New York City. Ages seven he and his family moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn where he was to spend his determining years. At the age of fifteen
Open Document