In an attempt to challenge the hegemony of 'high' art, on the one hand, and resist the commercialization and fetishization of art, on the other, Manzoni allegedly offered his own "shit" preserved in a tin can and sold it at the price of gold of the same weight. Andy Warhol took the legendary Abstract-Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock as the object of parody, simulating Pollock's dripping action by pissing onto the canvas that had been primed with copper-based paint. Warhol's urination produced splashes and stains of iridescent colors just as the patterns on ordinary abstract paintings. In contrast to Pollock's masculine action, Warhol's pissing alludes to the artist's homosexuality.
Excrements in art also provoked controversies, debates, and even acts of vandalism against the artworks. The works of Andres Serrano and Chris Ofili infuriated many Christians for the blasphemous use of excrement with religious icons. Politicians engaged in the heated debates on the use of public and national funds in support of some of the 'politically incorrect' contemporary art. In the midst of media sensation and criticisms, these works challenged the conventional understanding of artistic beauty.
The use of excrement in art is not unusual in contemporary art practices. With its subversive power, excrement plays an important critical roles in the shaping of contemporary art.