There is a lot more going on in Serrano&#x27;s work than these kind of off the cuff comments give him credit for.<p>I saw the original series in the early 90s in a retrospective in Manhattan, and your characterization of it as &quot;garbage&quot; is shallow and erroneous.<p>First off, they are large prints, and beautifully colored and detailed.  They have a beautiful, aestheticized quality.  The series of photos also uses other bodily fluids like semen, milk, and blood -- fluids which are highly symbolic, especially for Catholics (Serrano is a believer).<p>Seen as a body of photos, it comes off as transgressive, sure, but also suggestive of processes that run the world -- reproduction, excretion, nourishment, care for young.  But also, at the very same time, richly symbolic in the Catholic tradition.<p>As a point of reference, if you are familiar with the works of Gilbert and George (NSFW: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.harpersbooks.com&#x2F;pictures&#x2F;16976_cspread1.jpg" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.harpersbooks.com&#x2F;pictures&#x2F;16976_cspread1.jpg</a>), who have also worked with large scale photos of shit, semen, etc. -- Serrano&#x27;s works are not provocative in the same way.  His series was actually rather philosophical and meditative.