Karen Finley (b. Chicago, IL 1956) is an American performance artist, playwright, director, visual artist, author and professor. She holds an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and is on faculty at New York University. She is best known for her controversial performance art and as one of the ‘NEA Four.’ Finley was one of four New York based-artists to have her National Endowment for the Arts grant vetoed for indecent content in 1990. Finley has shown eleven works at The Kitchen, including the premiere of Bessie award winning The Constant State of Desire. For more information see the artist’s website, www.karenfinely.com.