Andra Ursuta, “Alps”

Controversy has sometimes dogged the work of this Romanian sculptor and installation artist. She caused a stir, for example, with a life cast of herself naked, except for sneakers, sprawled on the floor like a dead body at a crime scene crushed underneath an unseen weight. The figure was also covered in white, waxy blobs—a reference to bukkake porn that was unmistakable. Ursuta’s work often deals marginalized groups—women, minorities, refugees—and the relatively low value placed on their lives by society at large. Dark irony and a taste for the abject are hallmarks of her art.