Good condition
signed, titled, dated and numbered on the verso

Born in New York, Andres Serrano (1950-) is a contemporary American artist known for his provocative photographic works that confront taboos surrounding religion, death, sexuality, and violence. His 1987 masterpiece Piss Christ—a photograph of statue of Jesus Christ was submerged in the artist's own urine—caused intense controversy in the US as religious blasphemy. The work triggered a wider social debate on art and censorship, faith and freedom of expression. The artist has consistently questioned what “the sacred” means in the modern age, using his art to challenge and blur the boundaries between ethics and beauty.

This large-scale Cibachrome photograph work is from one of the artist's representative works from his “Body Fluid Series”. As the title suggests, the work was shot using blood as the material. Within its abstract composition where deep crimson tones seem to flow and dissolve the work intertwines opposing ideas: life and death, sanctity and defilement, beauty and repulsion. Presented in the conservative US society in 1980s, the piece anticipates the critical questions later developed in Piss Christ (1987), making it a key work that probes faith, violence, and the very essence of aesthetics through the material reality of the body.

Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 22 February - 1 March, 2023