April 2, 2015

In case you've been wondering what Andres "Piss Christ" Serrano has been immersing himself in lately...

... the answer is extremely fuzzy, extremely passive bunny rabbits.
"It’s funny... I have this reputation of being a controversial artist, or a provocateur. For me, I would love to take pictures of cats and dogs — nice portraits of cats and dogs and children." He paused for a moment, and I imagined him imagining himself, photographing kittens and babies, maybe by a river somewhere, content and still as a rabbit. "But," he went on, "people expect something else of me."
 The life of a provocateur is not easy....

43 comments:

Todd said...

I was going to call this one a "first world problem" but I think it is more appropriately a "narcissist problem"...

Nonapod said...

Whether you're talking about Elvis Presely or GG Allin shock for shock values sake has a limited life span. Something's really only shocking perhaps the first few times it's done. If you keep on doing it after awhile it just becomes bad taste, then over time it eventually becomes boring.

Anonymous said...

Let's remember that what made "Piss Christ" news -- or, at least, more newsworthy -- was not its inherently provocative nature per se. Lots of artists make crappy (or good, I suppose) art to épater le bourgeois.

Far more provocative to many was that, for "Piss Christ," Serrano won a prize funded in part by taxpayers through the National Endowment for the Arts.

traditionalguy said...

Too bad he is bored with his life, bunnies and all.

Robert Cook said...

PISS CHRIST was never shocking at all. It was and remains a beautiful depiction of the crucifixion, the best I've seen.

Anonymous said...

Robert, you're certainly entitled to your interpretation of the art qua art. I would like to be "entitled" not to have to pay the artist a single penny for it, however.

n.n said...

What an extremely boring controversy. Now, "Planned Crucifixion", on the other hand, would be an exquisite expression of human integrity; that would cause mass hysteria in liberal societies, as they cling to their aborted and rotting babies... I mean, clumps of cells. I wonder if the NEA would be willing to fund an aesthetic expose of sacrificial rites in the State-established Secular Church.

Big Mike said...

@Cookie, you are aware that Serrano didn't make the crucifix? That he just bought a cheap plastic crucifix in some store?

Robert Cook said...

"Robert, you're certainly entitled to your interpretation of the art qua art."

It's not an "interpretation." It's my visceral reaction to its aesthetic beauty.

You probably paid a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a penny for it, so small as to be virtually nonexistent.

In the meantime, we are throwing trillions of our dollars away on mass murder on a global scale.

Robert Cook said...

"@Cookie, you are aware that Serrano didn't make the crucifix? That he just bought a cheap plastic crucifix in some store?"

I'm aware. He made the image.

I doubt there are many artists who could make as powerful an image from a small, cheap plastic crucifix.

Bay Area Guy said...

If Serrano painted his cross with a "rainbow color" (i.e., a symbol of gay rights) and immersed it into a glass of urine, it would not be considered a free expression of art these days, but rather a hate crime of the highest order.

Simon said...

It takes a very brave artist to provoke those whom you know will not rise to the provocation. A big man to sucker-punch those whom you expect to turn the other cheek. I for one laud his courage.

Todd said...

Robert Cook said...

In the meantime, we are throwing trillions of our dollars away on mass murder on a global scale.

4/2/15, 3:00 PM


I don't think we are paying "trillions" for planned parenthood and other organizations to perform abortions but I get your point.

Gahrie said...

mass murder on a global scale.

We're talking about the U.S. not your commie friends Bob.....

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

I'm getting some bunny rabbits, kittens, and puppies to seal in jars of piss and sell.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

I'm getting some bunny rabbits, kittens, and puppies to nail to cheap plastic crosses and sell.

Robert Cook said...

"We're talking about the U.S...."

Yes...we are.

Anonymous said...

"It's not an 'interpretation.'"

Oh, honey. Yes it is.

"It's my visceral reaction to its aesthetic beauty."

In other words, a kind of interpretation.

Sorry, I thought you were worth having a conversation with. I was mistaken. Shan't happen again.

Big Mike said...

@Cookie, the image is overexposed and the colors are oversaturated. Other than that, I guess it's a good picture.

If Serrano really wanted to be edgy he should take my advice at 2:20.

Robert Cook said...

No, pogo101, an "interpretation" would be an intellectual working out of meaning. Simply reacting to an image's shapes, color, values, etc., is an aesthetic reaction.

richard mcenroe said...

I don't care what Serrano is immersing himself in.

Just as long as he immerses himself head-first.

averagejoe said...

How about a new Serrano, one that is really challenging- Piss Obama! No, wait, I got a better one- A larger than life-size sculpture of Barry Hussein Obama made of republican's bowel movements! Shit Obama! And the sculpture depicts Shit Obama taking a shit on the American flag while a republican family cries and Obama allies like Bill Ayers, Reverend Wright, Louis Farrakhan, Father Pflegler, and Eric Holder cheer! ...You're welcome, asshole.

MaxedOutMama said...

Well, in an era when women knit with their vaginas, perhaps he is being transgressive and a trendsetter.

Or maybe he just found that the fuzzies sell better.

kzookitty said...

Piss Easter Bunny

Best of both worlds.

kzookitty

Michael K said...

I wasn't.

Michael K said...

" the best I've seen."

I believe it.

Laslo Spatula said...

"people expect something else of me."

Some artists, by nature, are pissive-aggressive.


I am Laslo.

jr565 said...

So, aren't christians a protected class? And isn't Serrano's piss christ hate speech? We should chop his head off.

jr565 said...

My new art is going to be called "PIss Gay Wedding." Where I dunk a wedding cake I bake for a gay wedding into my urine.

jr565 said...

OR I'll do a performance art piece called Shit Gay Wedding, Where I take a wedding cake that i bake for a gay wedding and then take a nice dump on it on camera.

William said...

What is included and, indeed, causes Cook's visceral reaction of beauty is the outrage that it causes among Christians. When you enunciate your outrage, you are only increasing Cook's aesthetic appreciation of the work's beauty and driving up its price......What a sweet racket this guy Serrano has stumbled into.

richard mcenroe said...

I think bakeries that are forced by the courts and activist harrassment to cater gay weddings should do so.

There was an excellent recipe in "The Help", IIRC.

Alex said...

What about a stuffed bunny in urine? Would that be artistic? Or another gerbil stuffed up Titus' ass?

Tits.

Paul said...

When is this brave "Piss Christ" provocateur going to make a "Piss Allah" display?


What? He says he wants to keep his head?


He is brave only when there is no consequences.

Laslo Spatula said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Laslo Spatula said...

Know who is big into urine?

Jessica Alba, that's who.

We were naked in the shower together -- I am Laslo -- when she asked me to pee on her.

I was taken aback, but I am sensitive to the emotional needs of others, so I asked why.

"Because then I am a dolphin," she said, eyes full of hope. And with sudsy naked stupendous breasts. Spectacular, really.

"I must say that I am uncomfortable with that," I said, nonjudgmentally.

"There is nothing more free than a dolphin," she said, "swimming in a current of human warmth."

Long story short: she is, after all, Jessica Alba, so I peed on her. Up, down, side-to-side, lazy circles and figure-eights, all the urination repertoire that I could conceive. As I did this she made a series of sharp high-pitched squealing sounds: "Eeeeeep!!! Eeeeeeep!, followed by a sound that I assume was meant to simulate air being ejaculated through a blow-hole.

There was an awkward moment when I was done and the squeals and the blow-holing had stopped: did I do this right? Did I meet Jessica Alba's golden urinary expectations?

Well, I must have done alright, because then she said: "Dolphin wants to fuck." Which I assumed meant her.

So we had anal sex, then watched MSNBC: I know, I know.


For the record: I do not pee on Scarlett Johannson.


I am Laslo.

Robert Cook said...

"What is included and, indeed, causes Cook's visceral reaction of beauty is the outrage that it causes among Christians. When you enunciate your outrage, you are only increasing Cook's aesthetic appreciation of the work's beauty and driving up its price......What a sweet racket this guy Serrano has stumbled into."

4/2/15, 10:41 PM

Not in the least. I think it is a beautiful image because it is a beautiful image. What others think of it has no bearing on my appreciation of it, and I don't have any interest in outraging Christians.

Big Mike said...

@jr565, or dunk the cake in syrup of ipecac and serve it to them.

Big Mike said...

I think it is a beautiful image because it is a beautiful image.

Are you lying to us, or to yourself?

... and I don't have any interest in outraging Christians.

Here you're almost certainly lying to us.

Robert Cook said...

Big Mike, I'm telling no lies, to myself or anyone here.

jr565 said...

Robert Cooke,
So If I did art offensive to gays, like say my piss wedding cake, or my God Hate Fags art. But it was very aesthetically pleasing, it somehow wouldn't be hate speech?
That;s good to know.
So then the true objection is not that its offensive but that its ugly as art.
So, haters, up your game and make nicer art. Then it won't be hate speech if Robert finds it pleasing to look at.

Big Mike said...

Big Mike, I'm telling no lies, to myself or anyone here.

This one, I think, is a lie you're telling yourself.

Robert Cook said...

Big Mike, this simply shows your limited mental landscape, that you cannot imagine someone liking something you don't, or that you have decided is offensive and therefore must be offensive to everyone.