Body fluids in art

Artist's Shit by Piero Manzoni

Occasional use of body fluids such as blood, urine, feces, etc. in works of art is most common in shock art or transgressive art.[1]

Examples

Blood

• New York artist Vincent Castiglia uses his own blood to make paintings,[2] and used it to make the artwork on the guitar of thrash metal musician Gary Holt.[3]
• The Anguished Man, an allegedly haunted painting by an unknown artist, contains the artist's blood in its paint, according to its owner.[4]
• The Flaming Lips released a limited run of vinyl records of the 2012 album Heady Fwends containing the blood of the musicians involved, sold for $2,500 each.[5][6]

Urine

• Piss Christ, a controversial 1987 photograph by American photographer Andres Serrano, depicts a small plastic crucifix submerged in a small glass tank full of the artist's urine.[7][8]
• PISSED, a glass tube containing 200 gallons of the urine of Canadian transgender artist Cassils, was made in 2017 as a protest against a decision by the Trump administration to revoke an Obama administration executive order which guaranteed that transgender students could use restrooms that corresponded with their gender identity. It is currently on exhibition at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art.[9][10]

Feces

• Artist's Shit, a 1961 artwork by Italian artist Piero Manzoni, consists of 90 tin cans reportedly filled with 30 grams (1.1 ounces) of his feces.[11][12]

Breast milk

• In the work All You Can Feel, the artist Sarah Ancelle Schönfeld sprinkles exposed photo negatives with hormones or endogenous substances such as breast milk and pharmacological substances such as the contraceptive pill.[13][14]

Human Fat

• Wenming zhu (Civilization Pillar) by artist duo Sun Yuan & Peng Yu. The work resembles a classical stone column, but it is in fact entirely composed of layers of congealed, gleaming human fat that was collected from plastic surgery clinics. [15]

Criticism and difficulties

Depicting objects of popular respect (religious subjects, flags, etc.) in art which includes body fluids can trigger public protests due to such material's historic association with dirtiness. The outcry about the Piss Christ photo is an example.[16]

In addition to the obvious difficulties of preserving perishable material, there can be regulations complicating transport by rail, truck, or aircraft of liquid body fluids due to the fluids' possible classification as dangerous goods.[17]

The sale of blood art via eBay is prohibited as eBay prohibits the sale of body parts, and classifies blood art as falling under this heading.[18]

See also

• New materials in 20th-century art
• Urine in art

References

1. Jones, Jonathan (14 May 2014). "Blood, semen and tears: why artists are obsessed with using their bodily fluids". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
2. "Using his own blood, New York artist paints "Resurrection" exhibit". Reuters. 5 October 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
3. Wise, Lauren (27 January 2016). "Axe Painted Blood: An Interview with the Artist Who Drew Lucifer in Blood on Gary Holt's Guitar". Vice. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
4. Rigney, Todd (7 September 2015). "The Anguished Man, the World's Most Haunted Painting, Is Not for Sale". Dread Central. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
5. Pelly, Jenn (4 May 2012). "Flaming Lips Blood Vinyl: 10 Copies, $2500, Features Ke$ha, Erykah Badu, Nick Cave, Chris Martin Blood". Pitchfork. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
6. Breiham, Tom (4 May 2012). "Flaming Lips Bloody Vinyl Costs $2,500". Stereogum. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
7. Jones, Jonathan (18 April 2011). "Andres Serrano's Piss Christ is the original shock art". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
8. "Controversial artwork Piss Christ vandalised in France". BBC News. 18 April 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
9. Michelson, Noah (16 September 2017). "The Powerful Reason Why This Artist Has Been Saving His Urine For The Last 200 Days". HuffPost. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
10. "What Is the Most Iconic Artwork of the 21st Century? 14 Art Experts Weigh In". Artnet News. 29 September 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
11. "'Artist's Shit', Piero Manzoni, 1961". Tate. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
12. Embuscado, Rain (2 May 2016). "Survey a Century of Human Waste in Art". Artnet News. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
13. "Sarah Ancelle Schönfeld – Schering Stiftung" (in German). Retrieved 3 October 2024.
14. "NATURAL BORN: SARAH SCHOENFELD". TISSUE Magazine. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
15. "Sun Yuan and Peng Yu". The Allure of Matter. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
16. Fusco, Coco (Fall 1991). "Shooting the Klan: An Interview with Andres Serrano". Community Arts Network. CommunityArtsNetwork. Archived from the original on 19 April 2011.
17. "International Air Transit Association page on DGR (Dangerous Goods Regulations)". Archived from the original on 5 August 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
18. "Blood Art". Archived from the original on 24 February 2008.