Andres Serrano Quotations

Some people have compared the Klan images to ecclesiastical figures.

An artist is nothing without his or her obsessions, and I have mine.

Oftentimes we love the thing we hate and vice versa.

One of the things that I am happy about in my life as an artist is that I am not considered a Hispanic artist.

I like to believe that rather than destroy icons, I make new ones.

As a former Catholic, and as someone who even today is not opposed to being called a Christian, I felt I had every right to use the symbols of the Church and resented being told not to.

I am an artist first and a photographer second.

I am drawn to Christ but I have real problems with the Catholic Church.

I have never been able to see myself as fitting into one category, and I have never been able to limit my contact with people to one group of people.

I think if the Vatican is smart, someday they'll collect my work.

Being born, especially being born a person of color, is a political act in itself.

I like going to Church for aesthetic reasons, rather than spiritual ones.

My work has social implications, it functions in a social arena.

I have always felt that I am the sum total of my parts.

In my work, I explore my own Catholic obsessions.

My use of the medium - photography - is in some ways traditional.

Unfortunately, the Church's position on most contemporary issues makes it hard to take them seriously.

I don't think that because I am Hispanic I should therefore do Hispanic work.

People have to find ways of explaining the work.

I have never voted in my life.

I have always felt that my work is religious, not sacrilegious.

An artist is nothing without his or her obsessions...

I like the aesthetics of the Church.

My work is intensely personal.

There's nothing wrong with provocative art work: I even look forward to the day when I can take pictures which will disturb even me.

I don't really think I am interested in the macabre, but I am curious about death. That's normal... The only certainty in life is that we're all going to die. It would be unnatural not to think about death once in a while.

Artists are a free society's greatest advocates and its best bulwarks. Their triumphs are civilization's triumphs.

I have always felt that my work is religious, not sacrilegious. I would say that there are many individuals in the Church who appreciate it and who do not have a problem with it. The best place for Piss Christ is in a church.

I say things, but I say them indirectly. At the same time, I try to make my images as direct as possible.