This paper takes a look at a number of the more controversial contemporary artists and the body-related images and techniques they employ. The artists in question represent quite diverse areas of art, and although they all have been critically recognised and have enjoyed the popularity with the audience and the art critics alike, their works have been known to cause uproar on a par with admiration. The selection of artists includes the notorious YBAs – Jake and Dinos Chapman, the American photographer – Cindy Sherman, the French Carnal Artist – Orlan, the Italian Body Artist – Franko B, the American sado-masochistic performance/multimedia artists – Ron Athey and Bob Flanagan, the Australian artist – Stelarc, and the German anatomist and plastination expert – Gunther von Hagens. To complete the picture, the article will discuss the work of a few less known artists and people for whom body art has become a way of life.
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