Andres Serrano

Andres Serrano (b. 1950) is an American photographer and visual artist best known for his provocative explorations of spirituality, identity, and the human body. Born in New York City, he studied photomedia at the California Institute of the Arts before returning to Manhattan’s Lower East Side to develop his distinctive style. Early in his career Serrano gained international attention with Blood and Semen (1987) and Piss Christ (1987), series that juxtapose sacred iconography with bodily fluids to challenge viewers’ expectations and ignite dialogue around art, faith, and censorship.

Over the past four decades, Serrano has expanded his practice to include portraiture, large‑scale still lifes, and multimedia installations. His bodies of work—such as The Morgue, which documents post‑mortem photographs, and Autopsy, a companion series—combine rigorous technical skill with an unflinching eye toward life’s most vulnerable moments. Serrano’s images have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Centre Pompidou, and are held in major collections including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Tate Modern. Through his fearless approach, Serrano continues to probe the boundaries between beauty and shock, inviting viewers to reconsider the stories we tell about the body and the sacred.