abstract:Karen Finley (born 1956 in Chicago) is an American performance artist, whose theatrical pieces and recordings have often been labelled obscene due to their graphic depictions of sexuality, abuse, and disenfranchisement. She was notably one of the NEA Four, four performance artists whose grants from the National Endowment for the Arts were vetoed in 1990 by John Frohnmayer after the process was condemned by Senator Jesse Helms under "decency" issues.