Piss Christ
The Piss Christ was an art piece created by Andres Serrano in 1987. The artist took a cheap, plastic crucifix and submerged it into a glass of his own urine. Serrano then photographed the crucifix and provided the description of his urine and name “Piss Christ”. The public reception was mixed to say the least.
On one hand, Serrano received approximately $20,000 and was the winner of the “Southeastern Center for Contemporary Arts” award. Sister Beckett, a Catholic nun/art critic, stated in an interview that she didn’t think the piece of art was blasphemous. Instead, she thought that Piss Christ was a strong metaphor for what society has done to Christ and how society has come to think the values he represents.
On the negative side, the piece of art caused quite a bit of hate towards Serrano, to include death threats and negative emails/mail. Critics proclaimed that Serrano violated the separation between church and state because his piece of art was funded by the government. In 2011, Piss Christ was vandalized by Christian protestors beyond repair while it was on display in France and again in 2012 while it was on display in New York.
It is clear that Piss Christ is steeped in controversy and has many meanings. Personally, I think that it is disrespectful to the Christian faith because urine is a “waste” that is excreted by the human body. This to me stands as a metaphor as what contemporary society thinks about religion. Although I have these views, I do believe that Piss Christ is a form of art because the artist does manipulate his choice of medium (the crucifix) and transforms it into a series of ideas. It is also clear that Serrano uses multitudes of emotion during this creation, as well as creativity. So as controversial and disrespectful that Piss Christ might seem, society needs to realize that this is art and should stop trying to destroy it with hammers.
Below is a video on the overview of Piss Christ and how it was attacked in France.
Help Received: Wikipedia for general information, google images, youtube
Helped alot w my debate!
while urine is a “waste” , we would die if we were unable to eliinate it . All part of the life process, as I see it , and the spector of censoring sincere art is awful.
Just as Jesus was rejected and considered profane by his contemporary society this piece of art suffers the same fate. It says more about the reality of the cross than many in the church who “cherish” it.
Religious object submerged in human urine is still a religious object in a jar of urine. Don’t get all tied up with putting lipstick on a pig.
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