Andres Serrano American, 1950- Andres Serrano, who believes that "there is no such thing as the sacred without the profane," draws from an iconography informed by the rituals and ideologies of his Catholic upbringing. His images often incorporate sacrosanct icons along with psychologically and morally charged substances such as blood, sperm, urine, and milk. The technically accomplished color photographs embalm the subjects in an aura of artifice, addressing the tension in late 20th-century America between spirituality and commercialism. Serrano (born in New York City) attended the Brooklyn Museum Art School (1967–69) and worked in an advertising firm before deciding in the early 1980s to enter full-time New York's politically charged art scene. Later in the decade, working under the auspices of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Serrano gained international attention as the target of attacks from politicians and religious leaders who took offense to his photograph Piss Christ (1987), which depicts a crucifix submerged in a jar of urine. The debate over the image's "blasphemous" nature epitomized the virulent relationship between conservatives and politically active artists during a period fraught with contentions that continue to the present day regarding definitions of art and pornography and the dispensation of federal arts funding. Serrano continues to examine charged subject matter. His series include KKK Portraits (1991), Morgue (1992), and Objects of Desire (1994-95). In addition to his controversial nea fellowship, Serrano has garnered awards from the National Studio Program at P.S. 1 (1985), the New York Foundation for the Arts (1987), the Cintas Foundation (1989), and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation (1989). In 1995 the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, organized Andres Serrano: Works 1983-1993, a mid-career traveling survey. Serrano lives in Brooklyn. A.W.