In 1986 Andres Serrano presented his art work 'Milk and Blood'. It is a cibachrome print of a layer of milk and blood that touch each other and ...at a certain point...mix somewhat with each other.
Serrano is most known for his art works that involve bodily fluids or other liquids (Piss Christ, 'Blood and Semen III' and 'Piss and Blood' used on the covers of Metallica's albums 'Load' and 'Reload').
He sometimes uses human female milk or menstrual blood. His art has created controversy all over the world, especially in the United States where even a political discussion took place on his work 'Piss Christ' which showed a little statue of Christ submerged in the artists own urine.
Piss Christ, 1987
In this way we often find religious themes and taboos in the shocking work of Serrano. He uses often religious statues or images which he submerges in bodily fluids. His work 'Blood and Milk' also touches the sacred. It involves the jewish taboo on the mixing of milk and meat (blood as a reference to meat) which we find in the book of Exodus and the prohibition of eating blood. Since the eating of blood is considered as not 'kosher' because the soul is in the blood. Therefore blood is considered to be belonging to God and man can only have the meat for food. Any mixture of these, according to Julia Kristeva and Mary Douglas, is considered to be an abomination. This means that it raises disgust because of the mixing of categories that by interdiction have come to be seen as clearly separated. In this sense Andres Serrano's work 'Blood and Milk' is, according to jewish tradition, truly transgressive because of the violation of religious interdictions. But this doesn't mean that it lacks meaning, symbolism. Because we musn't forget that these two substances refer to 'life' (milk as in mothersmilk and blood as source of life for the human body). So he clearly confronts us with the mixing of two substances that we find revolting....but that in a certain way are linked to each other. It is the place where the two substances touch each other and somewhat mingle that is especially disgusting to us. This is because we have in our western culture a strong sense of categorical separation and order. Every 'mixture' is pretty fast considered as 'impure'. And how we love the 'pure'.....
Does Serrano's transgressive work touch the sacred? Of course it does. Is it a profanation or desacralization of the sacred? Maybe....but in a sense his work confirms the religious taboo and the sacred sensitivity by transgressing it. If it wasn't there...there would be nothing to transgress. He in a way confronts us with our own sense of impure/pure through a 'via negativa' and points this out by raising our disgust. In this way he brings back things that, according to Georges Bataille, christianity has blocked from the realm of the sacred and rejected in the domain of the profane. Namely those things that are considered to be evil and violent. Bataille states that those things are, according to pre-christian traditions, sacred as well. Are we witnessing in art and the popular image a redefining of the sacred? This could be the case.
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