Andres Serrano

SPECTAClE, PROPS AND PAINTING However, it is this precise confluence ofcontroversial materials and distancing that makes a case for the show. What appears as absence of position is framed in carefully orchestrated compositions. The semen shots-"Untitled VII, VIII, and XIV;' all subtitled "Ejaculate in Traject6ry"-are perfect examples of the theatrical effects the artist is known for. On viewing these (literal or technical) shots, a quizzical interplay is set off. It reaches a climax when one reads the caption , an objective statement of the nature of the image, given in spare words and borrowing its style from advertising. These images of blood, urine, and milk are photographed as single entities or in combined images ("Milk;' "Blood;' "Blood and Soil"), and the use of bodily fluids is at first sight determined as well as concealed by the photos' formal, painterly qualities. Revelation is itself a religious process and the artist uses this dynamic to represent religious iconography which is revealed and reconsidered through a variety of techniques. Revealing is part of the photographic process itself and occurs repeatedly in the presentation, the formal process, and the choice of subject matter. The use of such open-ended naratives certainly possess a quality which allows the viewer to participate in a revelatory mise-en-scene and lets him/her figure out his/her own positioning to the photographs and subject. Perhaps, then, the engagement takes place in the mise-en-scene itself. A most spectacular and controversial set of images are the photographs of the Ku-Klux-Klan members and dignitaries: Klansmen series and the artist's statement of the empathy he felt for their position of exclusion. Another form of mise-enscene exists here. The shots are impeccably detailed and proportioned , yet they present only fragments-the eyes and upper body-of the person behind the hood, fragments enhanced by the flashy colors and details of the costume. The photographs clearly allude to advertisement and the generalized use of its techniques and tactics, visual punning, intriguing imagery. Yet the power of the portraits reside in the fact that they are reduced to icons and emblematic representations . Is this a lack of historical/political engagement? It should be added that a New York artist of African, Cuban and Honduran descent who travels down South and records portraits of KKK members is a political statement and is part of an engaged praxis. BERNARD CATHERINE -Guy Debord, The Society of Spectacle, 1978 the unity of life can no longer be re-established. Reality considered PARTIALLY unfolds itself in its own general unity as a pseudo-world APART, an object of mere contemplation. Andres Serrano's photographs were viewed under a retrospective format at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, which allowed the viewer to walk along a flux of visual information established according to a chronological/thematic frame from 1983 to 1993. This curatorial decision had the advantage of organizational clarity while letting the viewer reorganize the visual information according to more idiosyncratic/personal decisions, for example emotional and ethical responses. At the same time, it offered a seemingly seamless/non-problematical presentation that reinforced the character of disengagement, clearly the prevalent criticism attached to Serrano's work. Interestingly enough, the apparent lack of political and historical engagement in the photographs and the installation is also a function of the technique chosen by the artist. Cibachrome prints have a glistening surface quality, a visual character that invokes an attitude of distanciation. Serrano's work could be considered typical of the 1980s, replete as it is with figuration, seductive surfaces, and eye-kicking colors. It would be tempting to examine Serrano's photographs in light of the interplay between signifier and signified-the formal qualities and the problematics. The interzone created through the distancing effect reveals a space (A mythical space?) in which the artist creates a sort of meta-language. It could be argued that the beautification of images, such as religions icons or dead bodies, is a form of glamourization, a cosmetic approach to highly charged subject matter, both visually and emotionally. Catherine Bernard, art historian and curator, received her PhD from the Sorbonne. She currently teaches at the School of Visual Arts...