FOCUS SERIES: Andres Serrano: Incarnate
One of the tools artists can use to make an impact is shock, and perhaps no artists wielded that instrument with more glee than the Surrealists, including, of course, Salvador Dalí.
Dalí’s Santiago El Grande has been a centrepiece of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery’s permanent collection since it was given to the gallery by Lady Dunn in 1959. Beloved as an iconic part of New Brunswick’s cultural heritage, its fame can eclipse its complicated artistic legacy.
The painting, and the artist, were not without controversy. Dalí was expelled from Surrealist Group for refusing to take sides during the Spanish Civil War. Santiago El Grande is a celebration of Spain’s patron saint, St. James. It is also a celebration of Spain’s national identity, the resilience of its culture, and the victory of Spain’s Christians over the Moors, Spanish Muslims who ruled Spain for hundreds of years. Its triumphant nationalism has also been read by some as a celebration of Spain’s fascist Franco regime.
To provide further context for the rich legacy of Santiago El Grande the Beaverbrook Art Gallery will be exhibiting contemporary art works in the Dalí Chapel that critically explore religious themes. The first installation in the series, Andres Serrano: Incarnate, includes Seranno’s 1987 work Piss Christ (Immersions), one of the iconic artworks of 1980s postmodernism, and one of the most controversial artworks of the 20th century. Its simple existence was the subject of a Senate inquiry in the US, and the agency that funded Serrano’s practice, the National Endowment of the Arts, had its funding slashed in response to the controversy over this work.
The photo included in this exhibition, on loan from the Rennie Collection, Vancouver, was damaged in an exhibition in France in 2011 when it was attacked by Christian protestors. The artist and the owner jointly decided to leave that damage visible, as a way of highlighting the power of art to provoke a response, and the limits of attempted censorship.
Religious imagery has always been part of Andres Serrano’s practice, and the exhibition includes two other important works from the Rennie Collection: Blood Cross (Bodily Fluids) (1985) and Piss Pope, Part I and II (Immersions) (1988). Serrano is unequivocal in his position: “It’s not an attack on God or the Church, but instead a celebration of both. I not only believe in God, I believe in religious art and the beauty and power of such art.”
THE ARTIST
Andres Serrano was born in New York (USA) in 1950. He graduated from the Brooklyn Museum Art School of New York in 1969 and is one of the most recognized contemporary artists on the international art scene.
His photographs have been the subject of recent solo exhibitions at Musée Maillol, Paris (2024); Forum Groningen, Netherlands (2024); DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague (2023); and Fotografiska, Tallinn (2023). Major institutional presentations include the Whitney Biennial, New York; the Barbican Art Gallery, London; the Helsinki Art Museum; and Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid. His work belongs to over seventy public collections worldwide, among them the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; the Vatican Contemporary Art Collection, Vatican City; the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; the Art Institute of Chicago; and the Vancouver Art Gallery.
He is a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France, 2017) and a National Academician (U.S., 2015). Andres Serrano lives and works in New York.
THE RENNIE COLLECTION
The Rennie Collection is recognized for the calibre of its diverse holdings of contemporary art. Founded by Bob Rennie, the collection's ethos is to acquire, preserve, and exhibit artworks by both established and emerging artists from around the world, and to collaborate with art institutions globally. One of Bob Rennie’s core principles is that “nothing comes into the collection that doesn't speak to the collection.”
Supporting artists working in diverse media that explore and challenge societal, political, and cultural issues of our time, Rennie Collection provides a platform for artists to express their perspectives and ideas. In Bob Rennie’s own words: “…all art must be looked at in the light it was painted in.” The Collection is shared with audiences globally through a robust lending program to numerous institutions and through collaborations with various arts organizations.
This exhibition was made possible thanks to support from The Council for Canadian American Relations.
Image:
Andres Serrano
Piss Christ (Immersions)
1987/printed 2007 (vandalised 2011)
cibachrome print face-mounted to Plexiglas, in artist's frame
framed: 65 7/8 x 45 1/8 in.
© Andres Serrano. Courtesy of the artist and Rennie Collection, Vancouver
