It’s hard to stay controversial as an artist. Ask Andres Serrano. This piece in the New York Times explains what I mean:

As Pope Francis met with dozens of international artists at the Sistine Chapel on Friday, he sought both to reaffirm the Roman Catholic Church’s commitment to artistic endeavors and to enlist the artists to act as catalysts for change in areas like social justice.

Yet as the group sat amid Renaissance frescoes by the likes of Michelangelo, Botticelli and Perugino — undisputedly one of the high points of papal art patronage — not all of those present had a traditional religious bent.

Among them were the American artist Andres Serrano, whose photograph “Piss Christ,” an image of a plastic crucifix submerged in a tank full of urine, was considered blasphemous when it debuted in 1987.

On Friday, Francis blessed Mr. Serrano and gave him a cheery thumbs up.

A thumbs up! Not too long ago he was reviled for that work. Now he’s hanging out with Pope Francis. It’s hard out there for an artist to stay controversial. After all, if you go through this piece and check out art history’s most controversial nudes, so many are anything but controversial now. Now they are classics. Serrano’s work will become that way too.

A good reminder to artists: being controversial is fine, but it’s hard to maintain. Best to focus on making your work good first: that is what will remain after the controversy dies off.