Serrano's A HISTORY OF SEX Exhibition Opening

(Hollywood)--The Erotic Museum presents a one-man show of images from the series A HISTORY OF SEX by Andres Serrano for the first time on the West Coast. These large format photographs were commissioned in 1996 by the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands and opened to both vehement protest and overwhelming attendance, receiving multiple bomb threats, 2 Molotov cocktails and 10,000 visitors on the opening day alone.

This series of photographs touch upon taboos and practices ostracized throughout the history of sex and mankind. Subjects range from octogenarians, dwarves, and horses to pierrots and transgenders. The representations of power in these relationships are captured with striking beauty by Serrano’s unflinching lens.

Serrano gained international attention in the 1980's when he was denounced on the floor of the U.S. Senate for his controversial work "Piss Christ" along with fellow photographer Robert Mapplethorpe as part of the Meese Commission on government funded arts.

More recently, Andres Serrano has photographed Arthur Miller, Snoop Dogg, Anna Nicole Smith, B.B. King, and Vanessa del Rio juxtaposed with ordinary citizens for his new book America and other Work: A portrait of post 9/11 America(ns).

Special Exhibitions Curator Carlos Batts asserts, “Serrano is personally important to me as a photographer because he creates work that challenges intellectuals and politicians as well as artists. His work has never catered to the establishment or whatever is popular or trendy. This exhibition not only authenticates the diversity in humanity sexual desire, but it also forces you to look when you want to turn away.”

A HISTORY OF SEX opens at The Erotic Museum on April 14, 2005 and will run through late summer.

For more information: http://www.theeroticmuseum.com