© Andres Serrano, Blood Madona
Galleria Pack GALLERIA PACK Foro Buonaparte 60 20121 Milan, Italy Ph. +39 02 8699 6395 Fax +39 02 8739 0433 info@galleriapack.com www.galleriapack.com
Galleria Pack is proud to present Holy Works, the first exhibition by Andres Serrano entirely conceived and created specifically for the gallery, within which the American artist will recreate and reinterpret medieval and renaissance religious painting.
For Holy Works, the artist does not intend to reinterpret specific artworks from art history, and the presence of a Last Supper should not lead anyone astray. What Serrano is aiming for is an overall reinterpretation of the idea of sacred portraiture within art history. Far from the iconoclastic intentions typical of many of his past series, the artist appears oriented on an interpretation of fifteenth-century Italian painting, reinvigorating it in his trademark fashion through the use of characters selected from among his friends and acquaintances who possess facial characteristics typical of the New York melting pot, and who always play a central role in his photographic works.
© Andres Serrano, Crucifix
“Rather than destroy sacred icons,” says Serrano, “I reinvent and reinforce them.” Throughout Serrano’s artistic production, there exists a deliberate and declared desire to be recognized by ecclesiastic authorities as one of the most important religious artists of his day and age. For this reason Holy Works appears right from first glance to be one of the most important and heartfelt series this New York artist has ever produced. His works The Last Supper, the triptych 3 Stages of the Cross, La Chinoise Madonna and Blood Madonna represent the culmination of a career’s worth of interest in sacred Christian iconography. Andres Serrano has often been defined as “a modern Caravaggio,” and this series of artworks confirms the appellation, definitively consecrating him as one of the most important contemporary artists who has ever dared address religious themes and the iconography of sacred art history.
Vignette: © Andres Serrano, Blood Madona
