Ron Athey was born on December 16,1961 and is an American performance artist associated with body art and with extreme performance art.
10 Facts About Ron Athey
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Ron Athey has performed in the US and internationally.
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Ron Athey's work has expanded into solo performances, collaborations, and into experimental theatre and opera.
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Ron Athey has collaborated with others on a curatorial project inspired by the writings of Georges Bataille, Visions of Excess.
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Opie and Ron Athey collaborated to produce thirteen images from his performance practice, using the world's largest Polaroid camera.
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Ron Athey makes a notable appearance as a macabre, cross-dressing mortician in Rick Castro and Bruce LaBruce's 1996 film Hustler White.
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The first book dedicated to Athey and his work, Pleading in the Blood: The Art and Performance of Ron Athey edited by Dominic Johnson, was published in 2013 by the Live Art Development Agency and Intellect.
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In 1994 Ron Athey became a figure in a culture war, as conservative politicians fought to bar artwork with visible gay and feminist content from receiving public funding.
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Ron Athey was not alone in this: performance artists Tim Miller, John Fleck, Karen Finley and Holly Hughes would later become the NEA Four as they fought a case regarding funding for their work before the Supreme Court.
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Unlike these other artists, Ron Athey has never applied for federal funds to support his work.