Andres Serrano says he would not got down to be a controversial artist – however he is definitely proved to be one throughout his profession.
The 75-year-old New Yorker first discovered fame (or infamy within the eyes of his critics) with probably the most infamous artistic endeavors in historical past – his 1987 {photograph} titled Piss Christ.
The depiction of a crucifix submerged in urine led to protests denouncing the picture as blasphemous – and it was vandalised whereas on show in a French artwork museum in 2011.
“For some reason, I’ve touched on many cultural things that have become cultural flashpoints.”
Picture:
Andres Serrano spoke to Sky Information
Now, two of Serrano’s most high-profile and controversial topics for his paintings are dominating headlines world wide.
Serrano photographed Jeffrey Epstein for a portrait in 2019, 4 months earlier than the paedophile financier was discovered lifeless in a jail cell whereas awaiting trial on intercourse trafficking prices. It is among the final identified photos of Epstein, whose demise was dominated to be suicide.
Years earlier, Serrano took a portrait picture of Donald Trump in 2004 – the identical yr the property tycoon started starring on The Apprentice TV collection.
As Trump faces scrutiny over his previous hyperlinks to Epstein, and stress to launch all recordsdata within the intercourse offender’s case, Serrano provides a uncommon perception into the 2 males.
Photographing Epstein
Serrano’s portrait of Epstein was “23 years in the making”, he says, after he agreed to do it in change for a sculpture the rich collector owned that the artist had needed for the reason that mid-Nineties.
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Pic: Andres Serrano
On the time, Epstein was already a convicted intercourse offender who had served time in jail after pleading responsible in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Regardless of this, Serrano says he did not have reservations about taking the picture as a result of he “wanted the statue” that Epstein owned.
Serrano believed the sixteenth century statue of the Virgin Mary needs to be paired with one he owned of St John.
“Jeffrey Epstein is rolling in his grave laughing about how he is still talked about,” the artist says.
“He wasn’t an interesting guy. Except for being a paedophile, there was nothing about him that should have made him so interesting to so many people.”
Epstein ‘collected folks’
Serrano – who was first launched to Epstein within the mid-90s – says he and his spouse had “a few meetings” with him and regarded him to be a “strange guy”.
He says he has “shocked” when he learnt Epstein had been “exposed and indicted as a paedophile”.
“We never saw that side of Epstein,” he says.
“To me, he looked like a guy who didn’t have a job and was always on a vacation having fun.
“I by no means requested him about the place his cash got here from. I knew he was very wealthy. I additionally knew he knew lots of people.
“Jeffrey Epstein did not collect art but he collected people. He made it his business to know everybody, anybody who was a celebrity, famous, rich – anyone with a reputation.”
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Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. Pic: NBC
Serrano says he would not “judge” the themes of his pictures, who’ve additionally included members of the Ku Klux Klan, and he was “happy” with the result of the Epstein portrait.
However how does he suppose Epstein’s victims really feel seeing the picture?
“I don’t see how one thing has to do with the other,” he replies.
“Does that mean the victims would feel better looking at the portrait of him in the mugshot, which is a horrible picture?”
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Jeffrey Epstein in 2017. File pic: New York State Intercourse Offender Registry through AP
He provides: “Their take on Jeffrey Epstein is very different from everyone else’s. So they see something that we can’t even imagine what they see.”
Photographing Trump
Whereas Serrano believes Epstein was uninteresting, his opinion of Trump could not be extra totally different.
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Pic: Andres Serrano
He describes the US president as “fascinating” – a lot in order that he collected greater than 1,000 gadgets linked to him for an artwork set up known as The Sport: All Issues Trump.
The objects, merchandise and gadgets of merchandise had been created for Trump’s companies and types, together with Trump Vodka, Trump College and even Trump Steaks.
An 11ft-tall signal spelling the phrase “Ego” from the Trump Taj Mahal resort in Atlantic Metropolis additionally featured within the show, together with Serrano’s personal portrait of Trump.
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An 11ft-tall signal spelling the phrase ‘Ego’ from the Trump Taj Mahal on line casino in Atlantic Metropolis. Pic: Andres Serrano
He calls the {photograph} “one of the best portraits I’ve ever seen of Donald Trump”, and divulges he had a specific means of working with him – staying quiet.
“I didn’t give him any reason to upset him,” Serrano says.
“He sizes you up very quickly. (I didn’t want to say) anything that would turn him off or that would bore him or that would make him in any way want to leave.”
‘Quiet’ Trump ‘tried to determine me out’
Serrano says he spent about half an hour with Trump, who he describes as being “quiet” all through the method of getting his portrait picture taken.
“I often like to leave people to their own thoughts when I’m taking a portrait,” the artist says.
“I like to make the kind of portraits where it feels like I’m not even there. It’s just you, the viewer and the sitter.
“I believe he was simply attempting to determine me out. And so since we did not speak, you recognize it was only a silent dialog between us.”
The artist will not reply immediately when requested if he’s a Trump supporter however calls him “the epitome of the American dream”.
“I don’t think the art world has ever taken Donald Trump seriously except as a subject for ridicule,” he says.
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‘It is a Democrat hoax’ – Trump on Epstein recordsdata
“My perception and my intent with Donald Trump was far from that, because I think that’s a very simplistic way of doing things.
“My view of him is that he is a very good man.
“Whatever you think about him, you can’t argue with the fact that he often gets his way and I think that’s because Donald Trump is persistent. He doesn’t let go. He’s like a pitbull who doesn’t let go.”
‘Epstein story will probably be buried’
Serrano additionally took a portrait {photograph} of Trump’s former presidential election rival Kamala Harris for The New Yorker journal however says the circumstances have been very totally different.
“When I do portrait for a magazine… I’m happy to do for them but there’s no skin in the game for me,” he says.
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Regardless of the stress going through Trump to make public all recordsdata associated to the Epstein case, Serrano believes “the story will die at some point”.
“It’s kind of like the Kennedy assassination. People have been obsessed with conspiracy theories, theories about John F Kennedy’s assassination for years,” he says.
“It’s a story that comes and goes, but I think this story will go.
“In some unspecified time in the future, possibly some level quickly, the Jeffrey Epstein story will probably be buried, together with Jeffrey Epstein.”
