Damien Hirst is the official poster boy of the Young British Artist movement. While studying in the renowned art program at Goldsmiths College in London, he conceived and curated his own exhibition, "Freeze." Charles Saatchi, advertising magnate and art collector, caught the show and began acquiring

Agitated, Death, Excessive, Perverse, Visceral, Young british artists

Like an avenging angel invading the capital of high culture, Pablo Picasso came to Paris to confront the establishment and write himself across the face of modernity. He viewed art as a way of recreating himself, and invented -- only to later shed -- any number of artistic styles. The young Picas

Cubism, Distorted, Figurative painting, Geometric, Kinetic, Mythic, Perverse, Political, Polychromatic, Primal

Ray's primary thematic concerns center around containment, integration, isolation, and self-sufficiency. A leader in Conceptual Realism, Ray's best work offers a metaphor for the gap between the literal and the symbolic (or the known and the unknown). His art is compelling in its representation

Grotesque, Homoerotic, Minimal, Modern sculpture, Perverse, Phallic, Quirky, Surreal

With so much ado about his urinals and wheels, it's easy to forget that Marcel Duchamp was also an exceptional painter. But Duchamp rejected painting. He rejected, that is, his talent. The fact that an exceptional painter rejected painting -- and ultimately may even have rejected art -- is precisely

Dada, Death, Erotic, Fantastic, Machinistic, Mathematical, Parody, Perverse, Quirky, Surrealist art, Wise assy