Transgressive art
Description
Transgressive art is art that aims to outrage or cause a reaction from the observer. The term transgressive was first used in this sense by American filmmaker Nick Zedd and his Cinema of Transgression in 1985. Zedd used it to describe his legacy with underground film-makers like Paul Morrissey, John Waters, and Kenneth Anger, and the relationship they shared with Zedd and his New York City peers in the early 1980s. Read more ↗
Key Artists
Nick Zedd
Pioneer of underground transgressive media who coined the exact term 'Cinema of Transgression' in 1985 and authored its manifestos against moral censorship.
Richard Kern
Leading transgressive filmmaker and photographer whose raw 1980s underground videos and visual art confronted psychological violence and bodily taboos.
Andres Serrano
Major transgressive conceptual photographer whose provocative use of bodily fluids and religious symbols sparked historic public and legal culture wars.
Chris Ofili
Renowned contemporary painter whose multi-media works challenging religious iconoclasm with unconventional materials triggered high-profile institutional controversies.
Dread Scott
Revolutionary transgressive installation artist whose participatory works testing national symbols and free speech led to landmark US Supreme Court rulings.
Famous Artworks
Fun Facts
Filmmaker Nick Zedd originally coined the term 'Cinema of Transgression' in 1985 in his underground zine The Underground Film Bulletin under the pseudonym Orion Jeriko to unite New York artists who used shock value to defy institutional art censorship.
↗ Source: en.wikipedia.org
In 1989, Dread Scott's student art installation 'What is the Proper Way to Display a US Flag?' became so controversial that President George H. W. Bush publicly denounced it as disgraceful, and Congress passed federal legislation outlawing flag desecration on the floor of the Senate.
↗ Source: en.wikipedia.org