Art Rite Special (No. 13). - Alan Vega

VEGA, Alan (Suicide).
Art Rite Special (No. 13).
First edition. 2 volumes. Small 4to. Unpaginated [24pp each]. Brown stapled newsprint wraps as issued. Numerous b&w plates with some elements printed in red. New York: Art Rite Publishing, 1977.
Near fine.

A scarce pairing of the Art Rite special issue curated by Alan Vega. Between these two printed variants of the publication the contents appear largely the same, save for a few very subtle details in layout, text and haphazard printing in red ink. Here we see a somewhat violent tribute to American popular culture with collaged imagery of Iggy Pop, Elvis, Willy Mink DeVille and others.

As Vega puts it in an emphatic editorial note: “We dedicate this issue to the average American in search of excitement. These images, punked out from the ambient culture, are the touchstones of a new sensibility, icons of the dissipations and strengths of the modern spirit. Let the way of life idealised in these pages bring into your home the romance of the underculture - horse racing, white trash smut, greasy rock ’n’ roll, muscles, motorcycles, and the end of civilization.”