Diane Arbus is called the "Wizard of Odds" because her photographic subjects have included circus freaks, nudists, mentally retarded adults, eccentrics, homeless people, orgiasts, and outcasts. Her work has been dubbed "grotesque," "hateful," and "in bad taste." Norman Mailer stated the prevailing se

Confessional poetry, Dense, Documentary photography, Expansive, Grotesque, In-your-face, Intimate, Moody, Pathos, Perverse, Sublime

If you walk into a room and find everything you held dear in childhood degraded, chances are it's a Paul McCarthy installation. McCarthy is known for shocking, sexually charged pieces that feature benign cartoon and pop-culture characters -- Olive Oyl and Santa Claus, among others -- in a bacchanalia

Angry, Biomorphic, Erotic, Modern sculpture, Perverse, Phallic, Primal, Visceral

Vito Acconci, performance and video artist, has created seminal works of art in the truest sense of the word. Particularly considering his most notorious performance, "Seedbed" (1971), which involved Acconci masturbating on the Sonnabend Gallery floor. For "Seedbed" Acconci performed beneath a sloped

Body art, Bombast, Erotic, In-your-face, Perverse, Profane, Religious

He twists common colloquial forms -- like signs, stuffed animals and felt banners -- and infuses them with the dark psychologies and hidden undercurrents (sexual, metaphysical, and otherwise) of middle-class American culture, assaulting everything that society holds dear. From his first rambling perf

Modern sculpture, Perverse, Political, Sexy, Wise assy