''REALLIFE Magazine'' was a publication featuring written and visual material by and about young artists that was co-founded and published by artist Thomas Lawson and writer Susan Morgan between 1979 and 1994.Printed Matter
''REAL LIFE Magazine''
Retrieved January 14, 2018. It served as a clearing house for new ideas and examinations of mass media and art, while chronicling New York’s developing postmodern alternative art scene. It was strongly associated with the " Pictures Generation" group of artists.Bovier, Lionel and Fabrice Stroun. “Introduction,” ''Mining for Gold: Selected Writings (1979–1996)'', Zurich: JRP, Ringier, 2004.Rickey, Carrie. “Naïve Nouveau and Its Malcontents,” ''Flash Art'', Summer 1980.Sandler, Irving. ''Art of the Postmodern Era: From the Late 1960s to the Early 1990s'', New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

Magazine

The magazine’s first issue was made possible by a National Endowment for the Arts grant in art criticism, awarded to Lawson through

Artists Space Artists Space is a non-profit art gallery and arts organization first established at 155 Wooster Street in Soho, New York City. Founded in 1972 by Irving Sandler and Trudie Grace and funded by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), Artist ...

(New York). ''REALLIFE Magazine'' was based in New York and attentively addressed current art and its influences while continuously speculating about culture and questioning politics. Starting with a focus on the ‘Pictures’ artists - and an affinity with the world of TV, film, and popular culture - the magazine charted the rise of the

postmodernism Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or Rhetorical modes, mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by philosophical skepticism, skepticis ...

and post feminist debates before moving into more political issues, from institutional critique and

hypertext Hypertext is E-text, text displayed on a computer display or other electronic devices with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access. Hypertext documents are interconnected by hyperlinks, which are typi ...

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

and the civil war in

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

. As the ‘80s unraveled, and priorities and interests shifted in the art world, the magazine remained a forum for artists’ opinions, providing exposure for those overlooked by the mainstream, and introducing the work of a new generation of practitioners. The wide range of featured artists included

Sherrie Levine Sherrie Levine (born 1947) is an American photographer, painter, and conceptual artist. Some of her work consists of exact photographic reproductions of the work of other photographers such as Walker Evans, Eliot Porter and Edward Weston. Earl ...

Félix González-Torres Félix González-Torres (November 26, 1957 – January 9, 1996) was a Cuban-born American visual artist. González-Torres's openly gay sexual orientation was influential in his work as an artist. González-Torres was known for his minimal inst ...

, Mike Kelley,

Dan Graham Daniel Graham (March 31, 1942 – February 19, 2022) was an American visual artist, writer, and curator in the writer-artist tradition. In addition to his visual works, he published a large array of critical and speculative writing that spanned ...

Louise Lawler Louise Lawler (born 1947) is a U.S. artist and photographer living in Brooklyn, New York.Louise Lawler ...

Joseph Nechvatal Joseph Nechvatal (born January 15, 1951) is an American post-conceptual digital artist and art theoretician who creates computer-assisted paintings and computer animations, often using custom-created computer viruses. Life and work Joseph Ne ...

, Matt Mullican,

Jeff Wall Jeffrey Wall, OC, RSA (born September 29, 1946) is a Canadian artist best known for his large-scale back-lit Cibachrome photographs and art history writing. Early in his career, he helped define the Vancouver School and he has published essa ...

David Hammons David Hammons (born July 24, 1943) is an American artist, best known for his works in and around New York City and Los Angeles during the 1970s and 1980s. Early life David Hammons was born in 1943 in Springfield, Illinois, the youngest of ten ...

and

Critical Art Ensemble Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) is a collective of five tactical media practitioners of various specializations including computer graphics and web design, film/video, photography, text art, book art, and performance. For CAE, tactical media is situati ...

, among others.

Exhibition

In March, 2007,

hosted the exhibition. Curated by Kate Fowle, the show looked at the 80s decade through the lens of this publication and its extraordinary roster of contributors, including Richard Baim,

Eric Bogosian Eric Bogosian ( hy, Էրիկ Բոգոսյան; ; born April 24, 1953) is an American actor, playwright, monologuist, novelist, and historian. Descended from Armenian American immigrants, he grew up in Watertown and Woburn, Massachusetts, and a ...

Glenn Branca Glenn may refer to: Name or surname * Glenn (name) * John Glenn, U.S. astronaut Cultivars * Glenn (mango) * a 6-row barley variety Places In the United States: * Glenn, California * Glenn County, California * Glenn, Georgia, a settlement ...

, Jamie Davidovich,

Jessica Diamond Jessica Diamond (born June 6, 1957) is an American conceptual artist who is known for her wall drawings and installations. She has explored themes of anti-commercialism and social and sexual roles in her artworks. Diamond was born in New York, N ...

Mark Dion Mark Dion (born August 28, 1961) is an American conceptual artist best known for his use of scientific presentations in his installations. His work examines the manner in which prevalent ideologies and institutions influence our understanding ...

+ Jason Simon,

Jack Goldstein Jack Goldstein (September 27, 1945 – March 14, 2003) was a Canadian born, California-based performance and conceptual artist turned painter in the 1980s art boom. Early life and education Goldstein was born to a Jewish family in Montreal, ...

Kim Gordon Kim Althea Gordon (born April 28, 1953) is an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Born in Rochester, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles, Califor ...

, Group Material,

, Michael Hurson,

Ray Johnson Raymond Edward "Ray" Johnson (October 16, 1927 – January 13, 1995) was an American artist. Known primarily as a collagist and correspondence artist, he was a seminal figure in the history of Neo-Dada and early Pop art and was described as

, Mike Kelley,

Barbara Kruger Barbara Kruger (born January 26, 1945) is an American conceptual artist and collagist associated with the Pictures Generation. She is most known for her collage style that consists of black-and-white photographs, overlaid with declarative capti ...

Louise Lawler Louise Lawler (born 1947) is a U.S. artist and photographer living in Brooklyn, New York.Louise Lawler ...

Sol LeWitt Solomon "Sol" LeWitt (September 9, 1928 – April 8, 2007) was an American artist linked to various movements, including conceptual art and minimalism. LeWitt came to fame in the late 1960s with his wall drawings and "structures" (a term he pre ...

Robert Longo Robert Longo (born 1953) is an American artist, filmmaker, photographer and musician. Longo became first well known in the 1980s for his ''Men in the Cities'' drawing and print series, which depict sharply dressed men and women writhing in cont ...

Ken Lum Kenneth Robert Lum, OC DFA (; born 1956) is a dual citizen Canadian and American academic, painter, photographer, sculptor, and writer. Working in a number of media including painting, sculpture and photography, his art ranges from conceptua ...

Allan McCollum Allan McCollum (born 1944) is a contemporary American artist who lives and works in New York City. In 1975, his work was included in the Whitney Biennial, and he moved to New York City the same year. In the late 1970s he became especially well kno ...

, Paul McMahon, Matt Mullican, Adrian Piper,

Richard Prince Richard Prince (born 1949) is an American painter and photographer. In the mid-1970s, Prince made drawings and painterly collages that he has since disowned. His image, ''Untitled (Cowboy)'', a rephotographing of a photograph by Sam Abell and ...

, David Robbins,

Cindy Sherman Cynthia Morris Sherman (born January 19, 1954) is an American artist whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters. Her breakthrough work is often co ...

, Michael Smith and

James Welling James Welling (born 1951 in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American artist, photographer and educator living in New York City. He attended Carnegie-Mellon University where he studied drawing with Gandy Brodie and at the University of Pittsburgh wher ...

Book

The exhibition coincided with the publication ''REALLIFE Magazine: Selected Writings and Projects 1979-1994'', edited by Miriam Katzeff and published by Primary Information (NY, 2007). With an introduction by

Matthew Higgs Matthew Higgs (born 1964) is an English artist, curator, writer and publisher. His contribution to UK contemporary art has included the creation of ''Imprint 93'', a series of artists’ editions featuring the work of artists such as Martin Creed ...

, the anthology features writings and projects by Doug Ashford,

Jo Baer Josephine Gail Baer (born August 7, 1929) is an American painter associated with minimalist art. She began exhibiting her work at the Fischbach Gallery, New York, and other venues for contemporary art in the mid-1960s. In the mid-1970s, she turned ...

and Bruce Robbins,

Judith Barry Judith Barry (born 1954) is an American artist, writer, and educator best known for her installation and performance art and critical essays, but also known for her works in drawing and photography. She is a professor and the director of the M ...

Dara Birnbaum Dara Birnbaum (born 1946) is an American video and installation artist. Birnbaum entered the nascent field of video art in the mid-to-late 1970s challenging the gendered biases of the period and television’s ever-growing presence within the Amer ...

, Joseph Bishop, Eric Bogosian, Jennifer Bolande, Derek Boshier, Jim Bradley, Elsa Bulgari,

Rhys Chatham Rhys Chatham (born September 19, 1952) is an American composer, guitarist, trumpet player, multi-instrumentalist (flutes in C, alto and bass, keyboard), primarily active in avant-garde and minimalist music. He is best known for his "guitar or ...

Spencer Finch Spencer Finch (born 1962 in New Haven, Connecticut) is an American artist. After attending The Hotchkiss School, he graduated ''magna cum laude'' with a B.A. in comparative literature from Hamilton College in 1985. Finch then pursued an M.F.A. in ...

Felix Gonzalez-Torres Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

, Group Material, B.P. Gutfreund, The Holy Ghost Writers, Kellie Jones, Judith Kirshner,

Louise Lawler Louise Lawler (born 1947) is a U.S. artist and photographer living in Brooklyn, New York.Louise Lawler ...

, Thomas Lawson, Christine N. Lea,

, Paul McMahon, John Miller,

Robert C. Morgan Robert C. Morgan (born 1943) is an American art critic, art historian, curator, poet, and artist. Biography Robert C. Morgan received his M.F.A. in sculpture from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1975 and his Ph.D. in art education f ...

, Susan Morgan, David A. Muller, Matt Mullican, Kathi Norklun,

Adrian Piper Adrian Margaret Smith Piper (born September 20, 1948) is an American conceptual artist and Kantian philosopher. Her work addresses how and why those involved in more than one discipline may experience professional ostracism, otherness, racia ...

, Rex Reason, David Robbins, Walter Robinson, John Robert,

Tim Rollins and K.O.S. Tim Rollins (June 10, 1955 – December 22, 2017) was an American artist who together with the art collaborative K.O.S. formed the art-group Tim Rollins and K.O.S (Kids of Survival). Biography Timothy William Rollins was born on June 10, 1955, in ...

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

, Fulton Ryder, Grahame Shane,

Laurie Simmons Laurie may refer to: Places * Laurie, Cantal, France, a commune * Laurie, Missouri, United States, a village * Laurie Island, Antarctica Music * Laurie Records, a record label * ''Laurie'' (EP), a 1992 album by Daniel Johnston * "Laurie (Stran ...

, Howard Singerman, Michael Smith and R. Sikoryak,

Jana Sterbak Jana Sterbak (Jana Štěrbáková) is a multidisciplinary artist of Czech origin. Life and career Sterbak earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Concordia University,. completing classes in film history with John Locke and Tom Waugh, as well as painti ...

, Josef Strau and Stephan Dillemuth, John Stezaker, Valentin Tatransky,

Bernard Tschumi Bernard Tschumi (born 25 January 1944 in Lausanne, Switzerland) is an architect, writer, and educator, commonly associated with deconstructivism. Son of the well-known Swiss architect Jean Tschumi and a French mother, Tschumi is a dual French- ...

, John A. Walker,

, Joan Wallace and Geralyn Donohue, James Welling, and

Robin Winters Robin Winters (born 1950 in Benicia, California) is an American conceptual artist and teacher based in New York. Winters is known for creating solo exhibitions containing an interactive durational performance component to his installations, somet ...

.Michael Lobel, "Back to (Real) Life" ''Modern Painters'' 2007 (June) 57-58.

References

{{Reflist

External links

''REALLIFE Magazine: Selected Writings and Projects 1979-1994''
Visual arts magazines published in the United States American art Magazines established in 1979 Magazines disestablished in 1994 Magazines published in New York City Non-profit organizations based in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States