''Art-Rite'' was a cheaply produced newsprint

art magazine An art magazine is a publication that focuses on the topic of art. They can be in printed form, found online or both and can be aimed at different audiences which includes galleries, art buyers, amateur or professional artists and the general publi ...

that was published from 1973 to 1978. Located in

downtown New York City Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is the historical birthplace of New York City and for its first 225 years was the ...

, it was distributed freely there. Its editors were Mike (Walter) Robinson,

Edit DeAk Edit DeAk (; formerly deAk; ; September 16, 1948 – June 9, 2017) was a Hungarian-American art critic and writer, co-founder of the journal '' Art-Rite'' and the non-profit bookstore and artist book distributor Printed Matter, Inc. Early life a ...

, and Joshua Cohn. Cohn dropped out of Art-Rite relatively early.

Formation and Trajectory

DeAk, Robinson, and Cohn met in 1972 in an

art criticism Art criticism is the discussion or evaluation of visual art. Art critics usually criticize art in the context of aesthetics or the theory of beauty. A goal of art criticism is the pursuit of a rational basis for art appreciation but it is quest ...

class taught by Brian O'Doherty at

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

in New York. Based on this experience, the magazine took an agglomerative ground-level view of the art world. The editors often wrote anonymously, reflecting a collaborative process. Indeed, ''Art-Rite'' had a collaborative relationship with the art world (particularly with its own generation) and had a close relationship with the

post-minimal Postminimalism is an art term coined (as post-minimalism) by Robert Pincus-Witten in 1971Chilvers, Ian and Glaves-Smith, John, ''A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art'', second edition (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. ...

and

post-conceptual Post-conceptual, postconceptual, post-conceptualism or postconceptualism is an art theory that builds upon the legacy of conceptual art in contemporary art, where the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take some precedence over traditional ...

downtown art community that was in the process of moving away from formalism and towards an art of appropriation. ''Art-Rite'' appeared irregularly; according to a subscription flier, there were to be four to nine issues per year. Some appeared out of sequence, and #16 was never published. The magazine ceased publication in 1978. A facsimile edition published in 2019 includes the complete collection of twenty issues of the underground arts magazine.

Covers

The magazine was famous for its covers, made by such artists as Alan Suicide,

Carl Andre Carl Andre (September 16, 1935 – January 24, 2024) was an American minimalist artist recognized for his ordered linear and grid format sculptures. His sculptures range from large public artworks (such as ''Stone Field Sculpture'', 1977, in ...

, Dorothea Rockburne, William Wegman,

Christo Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935–2009), known as Christo and Jeanne-Claude, were artists noted for their large-scale, site-specific environmental installations, often large landmarks a ...

Vito Acconci Vito Acconci (, ; January 24, 1940 – April 27, 2017) was an American performance art, performance, video and installation artist, whose diverse practice eventually included sculpture, architectural design, and landscape design. His performan ...

Pat Steir Pat Steir (born 1938) is an American painter and printmaker. Her early work was loosely associated with conceptual art and minimalism, however, she is best known for her abstract dripped, splashed and poured "Waterfall" paintings, which she sta ...

Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( ; ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and Aesthetics, art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism and sociology. With Heinrich Böll, , Caroline Tisdall, Rober ...

, Judy Rifka,

Robert Ryman Robert Ryman (May 30, 1930February 8, 2019) was an American painter identified with the movements of monochrome painting, minimalism, and conceptual art. He was best known for abstract, white-on-white paintings. He lived and worked in New York ...

Rosemary Mayer Rosemary Mayer (1943–2014) was an American visual artist who was closely associated with the feminist art movement and the conceptual art movement of the 1970s. She was a founding member of A.I.R. Gallery, A.I.R. gallery, the first all-female a ...

, and

Ed Ruscha Edward Joseph Ruscha IV (, ''roo-SHAY''; born December 16, 1937) is an American artist associated with the anti- pop art movement. He has worked in the media of painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, and film. He is also noted for creating s ...

References

External links

Interview about ''Art-Rite''
by Phong Bui in ''

The Brooklyn Rail ''The Brooklyn Rail'' is an American publication and platform for the arts, culture, humanities, and politics, based in Brooklyn, New York. It features in-depth critical essays, fiction, poetry, as well as interviews with artists, critics, and ...

'' *
Art-Rite
' at

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

{{Authority control Visual arts magazines published in the United States Magazines published in New York City Magazines established in 1973 Magazines disestablished in 1978 English-language magazines Defunct magazines published in the United States Free magazines