Leaving Brooklyn Bridge and the East River behind, lurching along the choked one-way streets through midtown Manhattan towards Madison Square Garden and shameless New York cannot help exposing its seamy side. Outdoors in daylight has never been flattering to the old doll.
Fifth Avenue and the copper sheen of Trump Tower’s blinged out facade might give another impression, one of glamour and chintz. But New York has a running theme that plays to the constant wail of sirens, car horns and reversing garbage trucks.
For every Carrie Bradshaw there is a Travis Bickle. For each endearing Chandler of Friends there is a menacing Luca Brasi. Themes play out and because it is New York they inflate and expand like the city. Nothing is too big.
Serrano, whose counter-cultural motif is no cell p …