Transgressive art is art that aims to transgress; i.e. to outrage or violate basic morals and sensibilities. The term
transgressive was first used by American filmmaker
Nick Zedd and his
Cinema of Transgression in 1985. Zedd used it to describe his legacy with underground filmmakers like
Paul Morrissey,
John Waters, and
Kenneth Anger, and the relationship they shared with Zedd and his New York City peers in the early 1980s.