Ron Athey
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| Ron Athey | |
| Born | December 16, 1961 Groton, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Nationality | American (United States) |
| Field | performance art, body art, experimental theatre, video |
| Works | 4 Scenes in a Harsh Life (1994), Solar Anus (1998), Judas Cradle (2004) |
Ron Athey (born December 16, 1961) is an American performance artist associated with body art and with extreme performance art. He has performed in the U.S. and internationally (especially in the UK and Europe). Athey uses his body to explore controversial subject matters such as the relationships between desire, sexuality, and traumatic experience.
Many of his works include aspects of S&M in order to confront pre-conceived ideas about the body in relation to masculinity and religious iconography. Athey's emphasis on sexuality, HIV and queer practice made him a target of criticism in the 1990s, when critics and lawmakers including Jesse Helms described one of his performances as exposing audience members to HIV-infected blood. (This was in response to a 1994 performance of an excerpt from Four Scenes in a Harsh Life at the Walker Art Centre in Minneapolis, in which he made cuts in co-performer Divinity Fudge's back, placed strips of absorbent paper towel on the cuts and then, using a pulley, hoisted the blood-stained cloths into the air.)
During the 1990s the fact that Athey had received $150 of financial support for his work from the National Endowment for the Arts for his 1994 performance at the Walker Art Center, his name was frequently raised alongside criticism of the NEA. Athey was criticized along with other artists including Andres Serrano, Robert Mapplethorpe, Karen Finley, and Holly Hughes. In many ways, this notoriety continues to shape public perception of his work, and he has not since been the recipient of public funding in the United States.[1]
Athey's work frequently explores religious subjects. For example, Athey concluded his 2005 operatic performance Judas Cradle (performed in collaboration with Juliana Snapper of the band Cypher in the Snow) by speaking in tongues, and his theatrical multi-media performance Joyce unpacks the feverish environment of his religious upbringing, and he has staged himself as a modern era St. Sebastian for the photographer Catherine Opie. Athey engages with the ideas of queer philosophers and artists like Georges Bataille, Pierre Molinier and Pier Paolo Pasolini. Athey's performance Solar Anus refers directly to one of Bataille's essays, and in 2002 Athey curated an endurance/performance festival inspired by Pasolini's work. The Solar Anus performance is included as part of Athey's starring role in the Danish feature film HotMen CoolBoyz (2000), directed by Knud Vesterskov and produced by Lars von Trier's company Zentropa. The film was nominated for five GayVN Awards, including a Best Solo Performance nomination for Ron Athey.
He has also, with Vaginal Davis, curated performance art festivals in the U.S. and in Europe. These include Platinum Oasis (Los Angeles), Visions of Excess I (Birmingham, UK) and II (Ljubljana, Slovenia). A further co-curated event, Re-Visions of Excess, with Lee Adams, was presented in Birmingham in 2007. As a curator, Athey has brought together a diverse range of artists, including Bruce LaBruce, Ann Magnuson, Marisa Carnesky, Slava Mogutin, Udo Kier, Rick Owens, Ming Yuen S. Ma, Kira O'Reilly, Nicole Blackman, and Franko B
Athey has been a regular contributor to magazines and newspapers including Honcho and the L.A. Weekly, and occasionally teaches performance studies. He lives in Los Angeles
