Pleading in the Blood: The Art and
Performances of Ron Athey
This summer the first book devoted to the seminal and
influential performance artist Ron Athey will be published by Intellect Live.
Edited by Dominic Johnson, Pleading in the Blood includes
three newly commissioned essays on different aspects of Athey’s work by Adrian
Heathfield, Amelia Jones, and Dominic Johnson. These scholarly essays are
complemented by shorter texts by Homi K. Bhabha, Jennifer Doyle, Tim Etchells,
Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Matthew Goulish, Lydia Lunch, Juliana Snapper, Julie
Tolentino, Alex Binnie, Catherin (Saalfield) Gund, Bruce LaBruce and Catherine
Opie. The book will also include Athey’s own writings, including new pieces and
hard-to-find archival texts
Pleading in the Blood is lavishly illustrated with full-colour
images by photographers including Catherine Opie, Manuel Vason, Elyse Regher,
Slava Mogutin, Dona Ann McAdams, Bruce LaBruce, Rick Castro, Sheree Rose,
Edward Colver, Jennifer Precious Finch, and others. Antony Hegarty (Antony and the
Johnsons) has written a foreword to the publication.
Front cover image courtesy of
Regis Hertrich, from Athey’s Solar Anus at The Hayward Gallery, London.
Curated by Lee Adams for the Undercover Surrealism exhibition (2006).
Intellect Live is a new
collaboration between Intellect Books and the Live Art Development Agency
dedicated to influential artists working at the edges of performance.
