Andreas Serrano photographed, in the 1980’s, a small wooden and plastic crucifix floating in a jar of his own urine. We should not mistake this act as one to be seen as a purely controversial and anti religious gesture. Serrano is, after all, a deeply religious man. The image backs this up.

Beyond the shock of its production lies an image of powerful and arresting spirituality. The crucifix floats in a glowing ether, as if lost between two realms. Its projects the pathos of Christs suffering and transcendence as well as any of the great crucifix paintings which procede it. I can think of no better photograph of the subject.

 The image and its production should not be seen as existing in some kind of contradiction. The transofrmation of urine into a conveyor of spiritual depth seems to be an eloquent reminder of the journey from profane flesh to sacred spirit.

 The controversy raised by the works production is not an attack on religion but perhaps an attack on a certain systemmisation and blindness that Serrano saw as manifest in relgion of the late 20th Century. If his choice of materials provides an interuption and the image a deep spirituality then perhaps there is a chance for a recentering of priorities in a world which was becoming increasingly secularised.