Christian protesters destroy Serrano’s “Piss Christ” at French gallery
Serrano's "Piss Christ"
There have been weeks of protest at a gallery in France showing Andres Serrano’s famous – and infamous – work, Piss Christ. The artwork has now been “attacked” (say AFP) or “destroyed” (Guardian, below).
The controversial work Piss Christ by the New York photographer Andres Serrano has been destroyed at a gallery in France after weeks of protests.
The photograph, which shows a small crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist’s urine, outraged the US religious right in 1987, when it was first shown, with Serrano denounced in the Senate by the Republican Jesse Helms. It was later vandalised in Australia, and neo-Nazis ransacked a show by the artist in Sweden in 2007.
The work has previously been shown without incident in France, but for the past two weeks Catholic groups have campaigned against it, culminating in hundreds of people marching through Avignon on Saturday in protest.
Just after 11am on Sunday, four people in sunglasses entered the gallery where the exhibition was being held. One took a hammer from his sock and threatened security staff. A guard restrained one man but the remaining members of the group managed to smash an acrylic screen and slash the photograph with what police believe was a screwdriver or ice pick. They then destroyed another photograph, of nuns’ hands in prayer.
The gallery and the artist had been reporting escalating levels of harassment and abuse prior to the attack, which a French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand has condemned. The gallery says it will continue to show both works in their damaged state for all the world to see!
Christian protesters destroy Serrano’s “Piss Christ” at French gallery,
Bravo! The artist and the gallery especially, should be applauded for their moral strength in not bowing down to pressure and threats from the christian right. Freedom of expression it seems, is only acceptable if it is the religious that are expressing it.
Bravo! The artist and the gallery especially, should be applauded for their moral strength in not bowing down to pressure and threats from the christian right. Freedom of expression it seems, is only acceptable if it is the religious that are expressing it. Photographs are easy to replace, but displaying them in their damaged state sends a message to all, of the pressure put on society and governments by the religious in the war against reason and common sense they are waging. One small ray of hope is that the increasingly high profile of religious fundamentalists could well be seen as a sign that they are begining to feel more vulnerable, as humanists and atheists are more willing to nail their colours to the mast and those that want to impose their dogmatic beliefs on others, often via government and the education system, feel the tide of ‘irreligiosity’ slowly but inexorably turning against them. They don’t seem to realise that every action such as this drives another nail into the coffin of their cause.
Am I alone in considering that Piss Christ is not worth defending by humanists and atheists? What a nasty, insanitary, piece of work. Are we expected to walk past it and give it the sort of reverent attention we give to say a Rembrandt? Serrano has done what? Found a photograph and pissed on it. Wow. That must have taken all morning. Anyone who wants to chuck a hammer at it has my blessing. Sorry about the nun’s hands though, if it was a genuine work of art…..
Alan Rothwell, there’s no accounting for taste I guess.
To me it is a beautiful composition, it reminds me of some delicate carving set in amber or a lazy afternoon lying on a leaf dappled blanket covered in the refracted sunlight of a cider drenched daydream.
Not to mention that perhaps it is a comment on how we evacuate our bowels and bladder after death.
Is it saying that having a jolly good wizz is Blessed Relief or is it a way of dismissing the reverence for the ubiquitous image of S/M torture we see all around us?
Then again maybe Serrano just wanted to be a particularly punny piss artist.
I don’t think we are defending the Piss Christ. We are defending the freedom of the arts and condeming reactionary religious zealots who think they have the right to censor what we see, hear and read.
I think it looks quite good. I don’t think it matters what the materials were. I’ve certainly seen a lot worse “art” in galleries.