Uglyness and Splendor

One of the hot topics at the symposium on Monday night was the need to understand the "ugly" parts of life in order to fully appreciate the beautiful.  In other words, there is a time and a place to dwell on the dark, difficult and unattractive.  In our journey as Christians, this is certainly important as well.  We cannot fully appreciate the Easter season until we have understood Lent.

Can anyone think of examples of artwork that is meant to show off the 'ugly'?  Anyone exploring these themes in their own work of Uglyness?  Or the opposite of beauty and splendor?

I immediately thought of a wax artist: Laura Moriarty.  She builds up layers and layers of wax (which gets to be pretty expensive).  She covers up all of her colors and patterns, and eventually scrapes it all off and makes very ugly sculptures.  Then, she'll shave off parts of the works to showcase the "rings" of colored wax beneath.  It's fascinating.  And I think it's a great example of purposefully making ugly art that makes you squeal with delight at the little spots of beauty.  It's magical.  Here's a video of her at work: