Andres Serrano - Infamous Beauty
DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague
What happens when you mix the ugly and the beautiful? You get something like 'Infamous Beauty', a comprehensive exhibition of Andres Serrano’s photographs spanning many decades. Serrano has always been controversial for his work as well as his very persona, so bringing together these two opposing themes falls right in line with his oeuvre. The tension in many of his works comes from the interplay of the two. There is also a sense of uniformity, mainly derived from the fact that all photographs were printed in the same format, giving the exhibition a certain flow that let’s you flow from room to room without being interrupted.
The space itself was divided into two parts: 'Infamous' and 'Beauty', with the latter greeting visitors first. This collection encompasses works from many of his cycles and spans about four decades of photographs. Surprisingly, there seems to be a thick red thread running through them all, as Serrano’s style remains absolutely recognisable and unmistakable over time. In this part of the exhibition, we already start to see the theme of presenting supposedly negative subject matter in a flattering, or at the very least, an aesthetic way. In his mind, this is not done to somehow justify the person’s or group’s actions (as was the case with the photos he took of members of the Ku Klux Klan); he is simply looking for beauty everywhere around him. In a strange way, this humanises whatever he chooses to photograph, and this is at the core of why controversy follows him everywhere.
Besides these more daring works, photographs from other cycles like 'America' or 'Robots' were also displayed. While still maintaining a message, they don’t stir up the same conflicting emotions. In the case of 'America', Serrano wanted to show the diversity of people who make up today’s United States. It’s much easier to focus on the beauty in these photographs because while the 'ugliness' is still present, it doesn’t come from the subject, but rather from the themes the work speaks to. In other words, the 'ugliness' does not emanate from the immigrants and non-immigrants that Serrano portrayed, but rather from the reality of racism or xenophobia that we assume they face.
The 'Infamous' part of this exhibition is where the main theme really comes to fruition. Simultaneously, it also felt more outspoken, and in a way, there was simply less beauty here. The works on display were mainly relics of America’s colonial past, as well as portraits of people who continue to fuel racist or bigoted discourses in modern-day America. Placing a portrait of Donald Trump next to a toy with racist features felt very intentional and outspoken. The bulk of this part consisted of photos of toys with racist connotations or quotes that were quite difficult for me to look at. Never having lived in America, I was seeing many of these objects that were considered socially acceptable until recent decades for the first time. Seeing the extent to which racist ideologies permeated everyday life, products, and even toys was simply hard to believe and digest, especially seeing them so concentrated next to each other. And let’s not even mention the fact that these objects are still extremely easy to acquire. After all, Serrano bought most of them on eBay.
In the end, the name itself encapsulates my own perception of the exhibition quite well. Many of the photographs depict rather negative topics or subjects while putting emphasis on displaying them in a beautiful, stylised, and, dare I say, respectful way, which feels… uncomfortable, icky, or perhaps contradictory? In any case, the experience was definitely fascinating and was one of my favourite exhibitions this summer, precisely because of its difference and its ability to leave me unsure whether I was meant to like it or hate it. As Serrano himself has been quoted saying, 'It is simply about beauty in something that is not meant to be beautiful'.
