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Andres Serrano
Andres Serrano (2023).jpg
Serrano in 2023
Born (1950-08-15) August 15, 1950 (age 73)
New York City, U.S.
Education Brooklyn Museum Art School
Known for Photography
Spouse(s) Julie Ault (m. 1980, div. unknown) Irina Movmyga (current)

Andres Serrano (born August 15, 1950) is an American photographer and artist. He created the artwork for the heavy metal band Metallica's Load and Reload albums.

Early life

Serrano was born in New York City on August 15, 1950. He is from a half Honduran, half Afro-Cuban background, and was raised a strict Roman Catholic. He studied from 1967 to 1969 at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, yet is considered to be a self-taught photographer. In December 1980, he married artist Julie Ault. In a 2012 interview, Serrano references Ault as his "first wife" and Irina Movmyga as his current wife. Serrano has said that he is a Christian.

Career

Andres Serrano cropped
Serrano in 2010 at Michael Musto's Village Voice 25th Anniversary party

He worked as an assistant art director at an advertising firm, before creating his first works in 1983. Photographer Alex Harsley put Serrano's work in his first New York City show at his Fourth Street Photo Gallery.

His work has been exhibited in diverse locations around the world including the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, World without end (2001), and a retrospective at the Barbican Arts Centre in London, Body and soul (2001).

'Madonna and Child II', Cibachrome print by Andres Serrano, 1989, Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, D. C.)
Madonna and Child II, Cibachrome print by Andres Serrano, 1989, Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, D. C.)

Serrano usually makes large prints of about 20 by 30 inches (51 by 76 cm). Critical reception of Serrano's work has been mixed. His work is used as the cover of heavy metal band Metallica's album Load and Reload. Serrano also directed a video for industrial metal group Godflesh, "Crush My Soul".

In 2008, Serrano's piece The Interpretation of Dreams was selected to participate in The Renaissance Society's group exhibit, "Black Is, Black Ain't".

Serrano adopted the alter ego "Brutus Faust" to create the full-length album Vengeance Is Mine in July 2010. The album contains covers of classic songs from the 1960s, and original compositions including four songs written by Serrano's wife Irina Movmyga as well as one song co-written by Serrano, Thad DeBrock, and album producer Steve Messina of New York City–based band Blow Up Hollywood. Coinciding with the release of the album are the videos Goo Goo Gaga, Love Letters, and Bad Moon Rising.

In 2013, Serrano made a work of art called Sign of the Times by collecting 200 signs from homeless people in New York City, usually paying $20 for each sign. He described the work as "a testimony to the homeless men and women who roam the streets in search of food and shelter. It's also a chronicle of the times we live in." Over the course of several months, Serrano engaged with over 85 homeless individuals in Manhattan and photographed them for a series called Residents of New York, a site-specific public art exhibition on display from May 19 to June 15, 2014, at the West Fourth Street – Washington Square subway station, on LaGuardia Place (between West 3rd and Bleecker Streets), at Judson Memorial Church, and in phone booths and posters around the city. The installation was produced and developed by More Art, a nonprofit organization based in New York that is dedicated to the development of socially engaged public art projects. Serrano initially photographed homeless individuals in the city in 1990 for a series of studio-style portraits titled Nomads.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Andres Serrano para niños

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