I got to shake hands with Joel-Peter Witkin Thursday after he gave a small impromptu presentation at my Alma mater. It was mostly us watching a video called "Vile Bodies" featuring him and two other artists and then afterwards pushed a book he's involved in.
But last night, he gave a long presentation about his actual work and it was so amazing to hear him speak about each individual piece. A lot of people see his work as disturbing and offensive, but when you hear him talk about them all and the care and thought that went into every little detail he just seems amazingly intelligent.