NEWS: Nazis Vs. Art

CULTURE: Nazis Vs. Art

Andres Serrano remains a magnet for controversy. The experimental art photographer is most famous for his 1989 photograph “Piss Christ” which showed a Crucifix submerged in Serrano’s own urine. To the horror of Jesse Helms, the picture won the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art's $15,000 prize in the awards in the Visual Arts competition, which was funded partially by the National Endowment for the Arts. Helms and other Senators decried the work for its state sponsored sacrilege.

Helms’s objection was obvious, considering that he was Jesse Helms. Even though the photo is beautiful, in a murky kind of way, and was defended by art critic and nun Wendy Beckett, it’s still a fucking crucifix submerged in piss. It’s not surprising that Helms called him a jerk on the Senate floor.

However, you’d think that metal fans wouldn’t have any problem with sacrilege or body fluids. From devil horns to Deicide, fake sacrilege has been a beloved staple of metal.

So when Swedish Social Nationalists destroyed Serrano’s artwork at a gallery in the small Swedish town Lund, one puzzling detail was the industrial metal soundtrack on their video.



As was first reported in the New York Times, late last week, as the gallery was closing, several armed, masked people destroyed a gallery exhibit of Serrano’s work in Sweden. The video the vandals took of their destruction and uploaded onto the Internet, which otherwise states a anti-deviant art message, was accompanied by metal music.

It was just one of several contradictions in the video. They held a violent, obscenity-laden attack to protest photos they accused of being violent and obscene. The vandals called the art shit and pushed people aside in their rush to destroy the art which they felt threatened children.

Neo-Nazi group Swedish Nationalists is is taking credit for the vandalism. The dude who put up the video on YouTube’s old screen name was evidently Finalsolution88. And frankly I don’t know what’s worse — that the Nazi fuck could only be 19-years-old or that the YouTube screen name Final Solution could have been taken by 87 other people.

It’s easy to see why the Nazis would be pissed about the photos. Some of the gay couples engaging in oral sex and straight couples fisting are interracial. However, I can't help but wonder if these hateful fans of bad metal might have eased up on Serrano's art if they knew his art work had been used for a crummy Metallica record.

The video is gone already. Anyone got a working link or copy?

Video no workey....

don't know if I should be pissed that some assholes did this, that artists and their work are thusly terrorized, or to laugh because of how blatantly insecure these little punks are (note that the assailant immediately goes strait for the male on male blowjob photo and starts hacking right at the guys dick).

I really like how natural the fisting photo looks...like its a Tommy Hilfiger ad or something.

If I was the artist I would reframe them as they are and continue to display them. Or display them with those crazy metal bars protecting them (like the kind they put on windows in south central); it says something more about the art (and the peoples' relationship to it) that the pieces need to be protected thusly.

http://www.livevideo.com/video/5EE428F2D2FD4E969990468D369C3480/nationalist-action-against-deg.aspx

I liked Load

and can we stop comparing things to the Nazis? okay? no one was as insane and evil as they were. not now, not ever.

Got to love a pre-Godwined thread...

But, fuck the Swedish Nationalists. With a black, Jewish, Arab, female dick.

+ gay. it has to be gay too.

88 is a neo-nazi number. It stands for HH (H being the 8th letter of the alphabet), which stands for Heil Hitler.

Sex is bad yet violence is ok?

okay, so i registered just to chat with you guys about this. hello, btw

am i the only one that doesn't see anything wrong with this?

this is fucking art. it's not about money, so i don't really see the need to tell us how much all of his work is worth.

the point, that i've gathered from his work is that he's trying to CREATE controversy, right? so don't you think it'd be mission accomplished for it to piss (pardon the pun) someone off soo much that they felt they NEEDED to destroy it with crowbars and a gang of angry Swedes??

i see this whole thing as a cycle that's now complete. maybe i'm just being naive about this... but in all honestly, i see this as one of the most elaborate and complete performance pieces ever.

I don't think the metal soundtrack speaks much for the assailants frame of mind or politcal/social views. Isn't everyone from Sweden a metal fan? It's like, part of their culture, right?

Kid would like his hair back when u r done with it.

shouldn't you be pulling a stingray barb out of your chest or something?

/ cuz you look like steve irwin
// that's all i got

But the story is about Nazis. Surely it's okay to call a Nazi a Nazi, no?

I agree. I find that photo incredibly hilarious for that very reason. I don't think that was the artist's intention, but that's just the way I view things I guess.

You've got to be shitting me. From Mr. Serrano's track record, it was only a matter of time until something like this happened. You go around trying to shock and anger people, then act surprised and indignant when they hit back? Come on....

It's been a rough week for art...

That was rad.
Welcome.

I'd have to agree with you there. The gang of vandals have done more in the service of pushing the boundaries of 'art' than the rather unexceptional photographs themselves.

Krikey!

Newsflash: Nazis are ignorant and intolerant. Sweet... (FTR: I do appreciate you bringing the story to us).

I do have to say I agree with the n00b (that is if this artist's work has been portrayed accurately--I'm totally unaware of his work) that it seems these Nazis have completed the final chapter of what can only be described as very elaborate and well executed performance piece. Somewhere I believe there is an artist feeling very smug...

Sigh, one step forward, ten steps back...

Here is my review of Serrano's last book...

Book review at Mondopopsickle.com