Piss Christ

About

Piss Christ, also known as Immersion, is an art piece created by American artist and photographer Andres Serrano, depicting a small figure of Jesus Christ on the cross submerged in an orange-red jar of Serrano's own urine. The crucifix piece was part of a series of photographs in which Serrano submerged classical statuettes in fluids like blood, milk and urine. While Piss Christ received critical acclaim when it was first showcased, it has also garnered criticism from Christian groups that consider the piece to be blasphemous. However, Serrano is a self-professed lifelong Catholic, who created the piece as a critique of the "cheapening" or commercialization of Christian icons in contemporary culture. The controversial and shocking nature of the piece led to it making routine appearances in meme culture in the 2010s and 2020s.

Origin

Andres Serrano photographed Immersion (Piss Christ) in 1987, winning the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art's "Awards in the Visual Arts" competition. The piece shows a small plastic crucifix submerged in a container of Serrano's urine. The crucifix can be seen through the saturated, deep amber-red liquid, poked with air bubbles.^[1]

Various Christian groups criticized, protested against and vandalized Piss Christ when it was exhibited across the world, however, Serrano maintains that he is a staunch Catholic who created the piece as a commentary on the state of Christian iconography in the modern world. In 2023, Serrano was invited to the Vatican alongside various other artists, where he received a blessing and thumbs-up gesture of approval from the Pope.

Spread

On June 6th, 2015, webcomic artist Edward Mullany posted a comic showing a classroom discussing the merits and demerits of Piss Christ.^[7]

On December 1st, 2019, DeviantArt^[2] user Zaptwitz posted art depicting Waluigi in Piss Christ (seen below, left). On April 17th, 2023, X^[4] account @depthsofwiki posted about Piss Christ being vandalized beyond repair by protesters, gathering over 13,000 likes in a year (seen below, right).

On December 1st, 2023, webcomic artist Stonetoss ^[3] posted a comic criticizing Piss Christ for being "edgy," and showing the artist objecting to a Menorah being thrown in a vat of urine. The post gathered over 17,000 likes in six months (seen below, left).

On March 22nd, 2024, X^[5] user @InstantSunrise posted Piss Christ, writing, "Art pieces that prove their purpose every time conservatives get mad about them," to which X^[6] user @JigokuCake wrote, "Safe-edgy guy, this is the 1,924th week in a row you've brought out piss christ to own the Conservatives." The reply received over 30,000 views, 2,800 likes and 140 reposts in three months (seen below, right).

Search Interest

External References